Saturday, December 14, 2013

Direct Currents: The War That Time Forgot

DC Comics, "The War That Time Forgot" series was another of t unusual concept that debuted in Star Spangled War Stories #90 for May of 1960. Created by writer Robert Kanigher, and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, it ran for eight years, ending in 1968 but returned as a limited series in 2008. A wild combination of fantasy, science fiction and World War II all rolled into one, the stories featured a group of American soldiers, stranded on an uncharted island during the Pacific War which unfortunately is populated by savage dinosaurs. Probably influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Land That Time Forgot" series , its very similar as WWI soldiers are stranded on a dinosaur infested land deep in the Antarctic. Our heroes of the early stories were usually not recurring, but occasionally a few brothers would show up like Larry and Charlie, fighting airborne brothers Steve, Henry, and Frank, early prototypes for the G.I. Robot (who would later get his own series), sailors PT and the Professor, the Suicide Squad, and a flying ace, Brother No Wing. With colorful and imaginative scripts by DC workhorse Kanigher were perfectly executed by Andru's solid pencils and highlighted by Esposito's moody inks. But as the tales eventually ran there course, it was replaced by the Enemy Ace feature, though it did show up in reprints years later and some other titles used the premise in other DC war comics.


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