"Secret War News: U.S. Marines Raid Jap Held Island"

[mistygeek]

I don't think explosives work that way...(Warning: This is not a paper scan and can be hard to read. Bonus Warning: It is a World War II comic, and it has racism of the "really, comic book? ugh." kind.)

Military Comics #20 July 1943

Story and art by Fred Guardineer

How true is this? Well, not to the letter. But in 1942 the 1^st Marine Parachute Battalion attacked Gavatu Island to take over the Guadalcanal airfield. (Hear parts of a Leonard Kiesel interview here.)
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Comments

[freezer]

NGL: That was a lot milder than I was expecting.

The art makes up for it, though (First scan: "Tojo, I Am Dissapoint")

[mistygeek]

In light of the art love, I ought to add you can now read this from paper scans: http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=8956

I've just had this copy of my computer forever. I'll switch these out later, if I get time.

[michael_ellis_day]

I was also bracing myself for something a lot worse. There were anti-Japanese caricatures in comics from this era that made me need to wash my eyeballs when I saw them. At least Guardineer drew Japanese as humans... which was not always the case, as I know you know. Most of the overt racism is in the language, which is no harsher than these soldiers would actually have used at the time.

But still...wow, comics, sometimes you are hard to love.

[mistygeek]

He did good work. There was never much in the way of artist caricatures of anyone I've seen.

http://flimsyrationales.blogspot.com/2010/03/golden-age-artist-spotlight-fred.html

[nefrekeptah]

Well that's a little unfair isn't it? It's not like comics were unique in that "Japs are evil" viewpoint - they were just reflecting what was in popular culture at the time. The books, newspapers, and films were all saying the same thing.

One of the problems of reading or viewing older works, besides the archaic language and references to what was then current events, is the causal racism that's endemic in the old stories.

[michael_ellis_day]

In fairness to me, I've been a student of the comics, cartoons, film, radio, music, and popular culture of the WWII era for several decades now -- that was my parents' generation rather than mine, but I picked up an interest from hearing my folks describe the Great Depression et al. I'm aware what the general trends were, which is why I was braced for a lot worse, because I've seen a lot worse. But I can see how my last line is misleading without proper context. My apologies for being unclear!

P.S.

[michael_ellis_day]

I was impressed by the presence of a nonwhite American soldier in the story, and just found this description of the actual man and what he did after the war:

http://terencegallacher.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/colleagues-frank-few-abv2/

Would have added this to the previous comment, but apparently can't edit posted comments.

[halloweenjack]

Along with the anti-Asian stereotypes, you've got a Sioux Indian talking about scalping. Nice.

[teshara]

I'm still stuck on the whole 'he blew my pants off' line.

[cainofdreaming]

Yes, I've got to get me some of those anti-pants Japanese grenades.

[glimmung]

It is my understanding that the quality and explosive power of Japanese grenades were quite low.

[cainofdreaming]

That might be true, but I still prefer my version of reality. It's nicer in here.

[espanolbot]

Presumably it happens, I mean it happened to Hitler when they tried to assassinate him with a suitcase bomb.

Plus there's that bloke from Quantum of Solace whose trousers are blown off by an explosion before he can get into a fight with James Bond,

[rbenchley]

I'm still stuck on the whole 'he blew my pants off' line.

It reminds me of something that Seanbaby would do. Looking at that panel, I half expected Dick Whiskey, Drunk Cop to show up in the next panel.

[leoboiko]

Is there any possible justification for that panel other than homoeroticism?

[cypherfdp]

"Buddha help any Jap son of a sun we find!:

Hahaha, you've got to be kidding me.