Weird War Tales

Comic book series

Weird War Tales

Cover of Weird War Tales #1 (September-October 1971), art by Joe Kubert.

Publication information
Publisher| DC Comics
Schedule| Monthly
Format|

List

* (vol. 1): Ongoing
(vol. 2): Limited series and a one-shot special

Genre|

List

* War
Fantasy
Horror
Science fiction

Publication date|

List

* (vol. 1)
September–October 1971 – June 1983
(vol. 2)
June 1997 – September 1997

No. of issues|

List

* (vol. 1): 124
(vol. 2): 4

Creative team
Written by|

List

* (vol. 1)
J. M. DeMatteis (70, 72, 76, 79, 85, 91, 93-97, 102, 105, 108), Arnold Drake (13, 15-16, 18-19, 37, 55-57), Steve Englehart (50, 60, 73), Steve Gerber (80), Jack C. Harris (51-53, 67, 74, 122), Sheldon Mayer (10-11, 14, 42, 44), Roger McKenzie, (61-63, 68), Jack Oleck (13, 15-16, 20-22, 24, 27, 29, 33, 35, 38-40, 42-44, 46-47, 49, 51-54, 58-59, 67, 71), Mike W. Barr (84, 93, 99-100, 104, 108), Dan Mishkin (95, 101-102, 107, 123), Robert Kanigher (1, 2, 4, 8-9, 12, 17, 31, 36, 52, 59, 80, 87, 89, 94-96, 98-99, 101, 103, 105-106, 108-124)

Penciller(s)|

List

* (vol. 1)
Tony DeZuniga
Alfredo Alcala
Gerry Talaoc
Nestor Redondo
Alex Niño
Alfredo Alcala
Ernie Chan
Bill Draut
Jess Jodloman
Frank Redondo
E. R. Cruz
Fred Carrillo
Mike Grell
Frank Miller
Howard Chaykin
José Luis García-López
Marshall Rogers
Ruben Yandoc
Romeo Tanghal
Bob Hall
Steve Ditko
Dan Spiegle
Marc Silvestri
Carmine Infantino
Rich Buckler
(vol. 2)
Richard Corben
Eric Shanower
Paul Pope
Dave Gibbons
Paul Gulacy
Sam Glanzman
Eduardo Risso
Duncan Fegredo
Cully Hammer

Inker(s)|

List

* (vol. 1)
Terry Austin
Bob Wiacek
Joe Giella
Larry Mahlstedt
Bob Smith
John Celardo
Sal Trapani
Frank Giacoia

Weird War Tales is a war comic book title with supernatural overtones published by DC Comics. It was published from September - October 1971 to June 1983.

## Publication history

[edit]

The original title ran for 12 years and 124 issues.[1] It was an anthology series that told war stories with horror, mystery, fantasy and science fiction elements.[2] Changes in the Comics Code Authority made the use of horror elements possible.[3] The first seven issues were reprinted material. Each issue beginning with issue #8 was hosted by Death, usually depicted as a skeleton dressed in a different military uniform each issue. The title's name was inspired by editor Joe Orlando.[4] Walt Simonson's first professional published comic book work appeared in Weird War Tales #10 (January 1973).[5] Roger McKenzie and Frank Miller's first collaboration was on a two-page story published in Weird War Tales #68 (October 1978).[6] Recurring characters began to appear late in the series run, notably the G.I. Robot, and the return of "The War that Time Forgot" which originally ran in Star Spangled War Stories. Writer J. M. DeMatteis and penciler Pat Broderick created the Creature Commandos in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980).[7]

Several issues featured a series of short vignettes titled "The Day After Doomsday" featuring largely doomed characters dealing with various threats and harsh ironies of living in a post-nuclear war apocalyptic landscape. The first few stories dealt with a society reduced to medieval ways seven centuries after a war but most others dealt with the near-term aftermath, with the unexpected results of radiation or infrastructure damage almost always catching the characters by surprise.

Other stories featured robot soldiers, ghosts, the undead, and other paranormal characters from different eras of time.[2]

### Revival

[edit]

Cover of Weird War Tales (vol. 2) #1 (June 1997), art by Glenn Fabry.

Weird War Tales was revived for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint in 1997. It was published as a four-issue limited series, followed by two one-shot special issues in 2000 and 2010.[1]

## Collected editions

[edit]

* Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales collects Weird War Tales #1–21, 576 pages, December 2012, ISBN 1-4012-3694-4
* America at War includes Weird War Tales #3: "The Pool" by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Russ Heath, 247 pages, July 1979, ISBN 978-0671249533
* Showcase Presents: The Great Disaster featuring the Atomic Knights includes "The Day After Doomsday" stories from Weird War Tales #22-23, 30, 32, 40, 42–44, 46–49, 51–53, 64, 68, 69, and 123, 576 pages, June 2014, ISBN 978-1401242909
* The Steve Ditko Omnibus Volume 1 includes stories from Weird War Tales #46, 49, 95, 99, and 104–106, 480 pages, September 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3111-X
* DC Through the 80s: The End of Eras includes Weird War Tales #93, 520 pages, December 2020, ISBN 978-1779500878
* The Creature Commandos collects Weird War Tales #93, 97, 100, 102, 105, 108–112, 114–119, 121, and 124, 288 pages, December 2013, ISBN 978-1401243821

## See also

[edit]

* Weird Western Tales, a sister title dealing in Weird West stories.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Overstreet, Robert M. (2019). Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (49th ed.). Timonium, Maryland: Gemstone Publishing. p. 1148\. ISBN 978-1603602334.
2. ^ a b Don, Vaughan (February 2015). "The Horrors of Combat: DC's Weird War Tales". Back Issue! (78). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 31–40.
3. ^ McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1970s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 147\. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "With the Comics Code Authority relaxing its decades-long stance on censoring the use of monsters and the undead in mainstream comics, DC placed an emphasis on the horror of combat with Weird War Tales."
4. ^ Daniels, Les (1995). DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. p. 153\. ISBN 0821220764. "'Carmine Infantino and I found out that the word weird sold well', [editor Joe] Orlando recalls. 'So DC created Weird War and Weird Western."
5. ^ Cooke, Jon B. (October 2000). "Simonson Says The Man of Two Gods Recalls His 25+ Years in Comics". Comic Book Artist (10). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 18.
6. ^ Weird War Tales #68 Archived December 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at the Grand Comics Database
7. ^ Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 189: "A battalion of horror icons created by the U.S. government to aid the American war effort made its debut in an off-beat story by writer J. M. DeMatteis and penciler Pat Broderick".

## External links

[edit]

* Weird War Tales at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
* Weird War Tales (vol. 2) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
* Weird War Tales at Cover Browser
* Weird War Tales and Weird War Tales (vol. 2) at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

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