WAR IS HELL #9 – Ben’s Horror-Comic-Athon October 2018 #12
In the spirit of Halloween, Ben is reading one horror comic every day. Will they keep him up? Or will they put him to sleep? We’ll find out…
It’s October 12th. Today’s issue comes out of a Marvel anthology entitled simply “MARVEL GHOST STORIES” from 2011. It’s an interesting sampling (including Silver Surfer, Captain America, Ghost Rider, and Dracula, but I chose to go with…
ENTRY TWELVE:
WAR IS HELL #9: Marvel Comics; Tony Isabella, plot; Chris Claremont, script; Steve Gerber, dialogue assist, uncredited; Roy Thomas, welcome aid conceiving the series; Dick Ayers & Frank Springer, art; published 1974
I chose this story from all the other ones because it looked like it’d be a good one shot anthology tale.
I was wrong.
The set up was interesting enough. Aa guy walks through a bombed out city. He feels guilty. And he says he’s dead. We find out why he’s guilty and we see Death actually walking through the town as well. And there’s a big twist as he tries to save a little girl from death.
A couple twists, actually.
And then the big twist for me? Well, imagine watching The Sixth Sense and then finding out that the movie was actually just a pilot episode for a series.
Yes, the cover of this issue screams “It’s new! It’s different!” because the title is not an anthology book of war stories with a horrific twist ending. No, from issue #9 on it’s the tale of John Kowalski as he is cursed to die a thousand deaths because of his cowardice.
And I’m not going to lie. They got their hooks in me. WAR IS HELL’s “adventures” of John Kowalski will be going on my wish list. I’m curious. I want to see more.
Well done, Marvel editorial from the 70’s! Well done.
You can read the rest of this series here: Ben’s Horror-Comic-Athon October 2018
While Ben’s not podcasting daily for the entire month, The Comic Book Time Machine will be going daily for a week at the end of October. Don’t miss our WEEK OF WEIRD, as we explore some weird comics from October 25-31!
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