Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 3, 2024 | 2 comments

THE NEAL ADAMS CHRONICLES: A birthday tribute to the late Kurtzman, who was born 100 years ago…

By PETER STONE

As much as we all love Superman, Batman, the Avengers and the X-Men, the world of sequential storytelling is not limited to just superheroes. As I have explored through my other column, BURIED TREASURE, there are little gems out there that are done with sincerity and amazing quality that most people have forgotten or have never seen. Today, I’m going to talk about a glorious time in comics that is still relevant today.

Most people are aware of EC Comics and the shockingly talented artists they had. Wally Wood, Jack Davis, John Severin, Will Elder, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando and Bernie Krigstein, among them. They drew science fiction comics, horror comics, humor comics — and war comics. And there was a guide, a leader who focused those stories into real human dramas, an editor and writer who ran the two war titles EC published: the late Harvey Kurtzman, who was born 100 years ago, on Oct. 3, 1924. Despite the fact that Mad magazine written by Harvey was drop-dead hysterical, he wanted to write more serious material.

Kurtzman art

Published mostly during the Korean War in 1951-53, Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat contained perhaps the greatest war stories ever written for comics. Kurtzman started with some World War II stories in Two-Fisted Tales, but when the Korean War started, he drew inspiration from that conflict. Many young men were headed around the world and had no idea what to expect.

He was once quoted as saying: “I was absolutely appalled by the lies in the war books that publishers were putting out. What they did when they produced a war book is they focused on what they thought the reader would like to read, which was, ‘Americans are good guys and anyone against us is the bad guys. We’re human. They’re not. And God is always on our side.’ This trash had nothing to do with the reality of life.”

A smart, intelligent and fiercely funny writer, Kurtzman could make anyone laugh hysterically or cry over the futility of war. He aspired to create something better than simple gag comics.

Kurtzman

Which brings us to yet another legendary creator who drew an utterly tragic and heartrending story about war. Neal Adams produced a small story called A View From Without, which appeared first in a fanzine called Phase One in 1971, during the Vietnam War. It follows the short life of a Vietnamese child as the U.S. napalms a village. Archie Goodwin read this story on the subway and claimed he had to step off because it was so affecting. In late 1974, Marvel reprinted it in the black-and-white magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1 but the U.S. had already pulled its troops out by then.

Neal used himself as an inset panel narrator, slicking his gorgeous (his word) head of hair back and shooting himself with an extreme upshot to give the images an eerie quality . He plays an alien and I think it may be the greatest thing he’s even written.

Neal, like Kurtzman, also aspired to create better comics.

It struck me that these two men, vastly different in almost every way, somehow rose above the world of men in tights to create brilliant sequential art that struck at the core of our society.

In 1951, Kurtzman had become the editor and almost sole writer of his two war comics and they were selling well. 450,000 on the newsstand with a sales percentage of 80 to 85 percent. A staggering number today. Two-Fisted Tales hit 350,000 with a sell-through of 70 percent. Those numbers were good enough to allow Harvey to do whatever he wanted. And so, he did.

Kurtzman

Ambush! — drawn by Jack Davis in Two-Fisted Tales #21 — is about a squad of G.I.s pinned down by rifle fire, picked off one by one. Kurtzman gives them character and emotion, so they aren’t just cardboard cut-outs. Finally, a soldier leaps toward a thrown grenade, managing to throw it away to save his comrades, but is riddled with bullets for his sacrifice. A small incident, but tragic and heartfelt.

Search! — with art by Kurtzman in the same issue — is about a new recruit searching for his brother, taken on by a grizzled older soldier. They survive a mortar attack, but discover the recruit’s brother’s body in a foxhole.

Enemy Assault! — with art by Davis in Frontline Combat #1 — is about a soldier in Korea waiting in a foxhole as the enemy soldiers advance on him. He shoots as many as he can but ends up with a Korean soldier in his foxhole. They start talking and become sort of friendly until a US solider jumps in and the Korean shoots him. Then our first soldier shoots the Korean, scattering the pictures of the man’s family into the air. Who was right and who was wrong?

Kurtzman’s goal was to produce comic books of the highest quality. They were not only the best written and drawn in the industry, they changed the medium itself. Was he a little overbearing and editorial? Yes. Did he want things his own way? You bet. Did he create great work? Absolutely.

Neal Adams, in his own way, did the same thing. He felt strongly about the Vietnam War and helped get a few artists out of the draft. He was fiercely patriotic, even saying if he were younger he would sign up to fight the Taliban after 9/11. He fought for the rights of artists and writers in the comic industry, most famously battling to get Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster money for Superman. He fought tooth and nail to have artwork returned to artists, and helped artists who couldn’t get work. He even fought for a Holocaust survivor to get her paintings back… the paintings she did for the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele.

And he drew A View From Without, which I can barely read it’s so tragic. He drew Thrillkill (written by Jim Stenstrum, in Warren’s Creepy #75) which is second in line for most horrific story ever. How does someone who has never fired a gun know so much about the ramifications of a bullet’s impact?

Just like Kurtzman, who laid out every story himself and would torture all his artists to slavishly follow his guides, Neal loved showing younger artists how to make their layouts better and clearer. It led to many people thinking that Neal laid out every book.

Both men had a vision and were determined to see that vision on the page. Both men were way ahead of their times. Both men could be overbearing and dictatorial, but if you were willing to put up with that, the results could be legendary and stand the test of time as classics.

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MORE

— NEAL ADAMS’ Respect for DREW STRUZAN Was Endless — and for Excellent Reason. Click here.

— NEAL ADAMS AND FRANK FRAZETTA: Creative Powerhouses Forever in Competition. Click here.

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Peter Stone is a writer and son-in-law of the late Neal Adams. Be sure to check out the family’s twice-weekly online Facebook auctions, as well as the NealAdamsStore.com.