InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "MOOSH"

kasumi_sora (kasumi_sora) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-02 00:41:00

Entry tags:

creator: jack cole, era: golden age, group: death patrol, status: public domain, title: military comics

The Death Patrol (by Jack Cole)
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Nobody takes death in comic books very seriously. Honestly, nobody should.

It is long comic book tradition to die--until a writer in need resurrects you. (Or the just restart the whole you storyline in a universe breaking way. No, I'm not bitter.). So long that even in the 1930s people weren't taking things seriously.

One of the first features of Military Comics was The Death Patrol. It really takes confidences in your skill you put Death in your name.

Meet Butch the safe cracker; Gramps the pickpocket; Hank the rustler; Slick the a con artist, and millionaire Del van Dyne.

Scans from Golden Age Comics.co.uk. All scans are clean and resized by me. I don't care about credit, but don't complain if you download them and see them not was pretty.

From Military Comics #1

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The Death Patrol lasted until #52 (August, 1946). I'll be posting a few more of their early stories. None of the infamous racist stuff will make this cut, but if you go looking...well, I pray for you eyes.

Links to info:

The Death Patrol Don Markstein's Toonopedia

Who really created Death Portal is something of a mystery. This is from a convention transcript taken during the 1999 Comic-Con International in San Diego

BOB BEERBOHM: When you were working on the script for Blackhawk, Death Patrol hadn't been published...

EISNER: Death Patrol, as I remember it, preceded Blackhawk, because Blackhawk was carefully engineered. It had Bob Powell, a Polish guy, there. We were doing the idea of a very fascist ideal, by the way.

CUIDERA: Powell did Mr. Mystic.

EISNER: He did Mr. Mystic, and we were working on Blackhawk, and he would come over where Chuck and I were sitting and I was talking or something, and he said, "How about a Polish guy? It's an international group. Put a Polish guy in it."

It's hard to remember which one came first. If my memory serves me, Death Patrol was first. It was not as well-done. [Jack] Cole couldn't draw realistic figures the way Chuck could and it was half-humor and half-satire. Blackhawk began as a serious adventure.

[M.E. NOTE: Everyone started talking over one another so our tape didn't transcribe well at a few points. Basically, there was general speculation that Cole did the first Death Patrol episode and when Arnold — or someone — saw the finished art, it prompted the idea of a more serious strip with a similar premise, and both wound up in Military #1. But that was just speculation. No one could recall for certain.]

(Post a new comment)

	kamino_neko 2009-03-01 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	Hell of a chin that Hank guy has. (Reply to this)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-03-02 12:12 am UTC (link)
	What the fuck is wrong with Hank's chin? D: (Reply to this)

	jlroberson 2009-03-02 01:09 am UTC (link)
	These guys remind me of Ennis/Ezquerra's Rifle Brigade. (Reply to this)

	johnzdrake 2009-03-02 04:19 am UTC (link)
	Rasit? Pray tell. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-03-02 06:27 am UTC (link)
	It was the dog. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kasumi_sora 2009-03-02 12:47 pm UTC (link)
	Racist, yes. (Let's be fair I started putting this together at 1 a.m.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	johnzdrake 2009-03-02 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	Doi. I should have figured that out. And I don't have the 1 a.m. excuse. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ladypyro 2009-03-02 08:31 am UTC (link)
	a robe covered in swastikas? How subtle! :P (Reply to this)

	longhairedlady 2009-03-02 11:37 am UTC (link)
	This is rather fantastic, though the "lets go show the brits how to win a war" brings back painful memories of Pearl Harbour (The film, not the place.) (Reply to this)

geoffsebesta
2009-03-02 05:39 pm UTC (link)

That was grand.

I love Jack Cole THIIIIIIIS MUUUUUCH but at this point in his career he couldn't draw realistic to save his life. I always figured his tortured poses came about because he'd scribble something and then try to make sense of it. It's a good way to work but does not lend itself to realism unless you know your anatomy better than the average doctor.

Hmmm...actually, he never got anything like realistic until his Playboy pinup epoch, did he?

Does somebody die every issue?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-03-02 08:50 pm UTC (link)
	And check out that registration... worse than my daily paper's Sunday Family Circus. Really gives you the feel and smell of the newsprint, though! (Reply to this) (Parent)