This post is brought to you by Ships of Steel, edited by G. W. Thomas. This collection of four SF novellas features plenty of Space Opera action with one of the stories being “The Price of Redemption” by Jack Mackenzie. (Who has a series of military SF novels here.) In this prequel to The Mask of Eternity, Solis DeLacey is only an ensign (not yet a captain) and about to go on a strange journey to a planet with a secret. Exposing that secret may cause an intergalactic war.
Weird War Tales was an odd title from DC that was a true war comic but also a Horror piece. Among its 124 issues there were a number stories that took place in a Science Fictional setting. A goodly number of these were drawn by Alex Nino and I have written about them here. This post features thirteen more forays into future war.
It should be no surprise that War stories would be told in space, especially after 1977 and a certain movie called Star Wars. (That being said, few of these show any real SW influence.) Space war stories go back all the way to the Golden Age and stories like “Ace of Space” in Avon’s Fantastic Worlds #7, January 1953. Written by SF writer, Otto Binder and drawn by The War That Time Forgot alumnis Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, it tells of the Great Space War. In the Silver Age, Charlton had a comic called Space War. The Warren black & whites like Creepy also did them in the 1960s. For those, go here. So you can see that DC wasn’t inventing anything new here.
Still, it was unusual for a comic that relied on WWII and other earthly wars for most of their material. Which isn’t go say that the editors shied away from non-20th Century material. They had plenty of ancient times, Civil war and other military venues. So space is the next logical step for some tales. As with all 1970s Horror anthology comics, we get to see some future stars strut their stuff before going onto bigger and better things.
“Pawns” (Weird War Tales #6, July-August 1972) was written by Marv Wolfman. In the future, wars are fought by robots while their human generals watch. One of these generals makes the mistake of flying over a battle and being captured. The robots are sick of the situation, and trade places, making the humans fight for robot generals. Not a space story but a chance to see Frank Thorne draw something other than Red Sonja.
“Loser’s Luck” (Weird War Tales #13, April 1973) was written by Mike Pellowski and George Kashdan. In a post WWIII world, children are saved in an underground complex while older people are left to die. Two boys discuss the futility of war before one s selected to be jettisoned from the complex because he is intelligent rather than war-mongering. One of the other boys foolishing trades places with him and goes to his death. Shades of Gattaca (1997) in this one. Art by future Savage Sword of Conan inker, Tony deZuniga. Like Alfred Alcala, Tony got his start in the Horror comics
“The Veteran” (Weird War Tales #27, July 1974) was written by Jack Oleck. An old pilot defies medical orders and goes on a military mission to engage the enemy. During that fight, he misses a shot and knows he is too old. The fifteen year old veteran sheds a tear for his lost career. Ender’s Game would do something kinda like this.
“The Renegade Dogface” (Weird War Tales #38, June 1975) was written by George Kashdan. Two men hunt down and kill a robot soldier. The robot has lost his memory and wonders why they attack him. Murderbot will later use this idea with much more depth.
“The Soldier From Space” (Weird War Tales #40, August 1975) was written by George Kashdan. A spaceman and his spaceship fall under the control of German soldiers in WWII. The spaceman suffers from amnesia so is easily manipulated. When he gets struck on the head he regains his memory and wipes out his German manipulators. he flies home happy to have found a planet his species can harvest as food. if they don’t wipes themselves out.
“Conquest” (Weird War Tales #45, March-April 1976) was written by Jack Oleck. The humans have cruelly vanquished a race on another planet but this conquest only alerts other aliens to Earth’s existence. These other alien conquerors take over the human race and turn them into slaves. Turnabout is fair play.
“Mind War” (Weird War Tales #61, March 1978) was written by Roger McKenzie. We see a space war that requires human pilots to be wired into computers. Only at the end do we see that it is all a game inside a mental patient’s head. This might have seemed new in 1978, but I doubt it. It might also be strange to see Howard Chaykin here but he has done several Space Opera pieces before this including the adaptation of Star Wars for Marvel.
“The Iron Star” (Weird War Tales #66, August 1978) was written by Bob Toomey. This one is a treasure amongst all the dross. A World War II pilot becomes a dragon-riding space hero. And it’s drawn by the fabulous Tom Sutton. of all the stories in this post, his one feels closest to a Star Wars Science Fantasy. Perhaps it was a trial run for a comic title? Too bad it never caught on.
“The Indian War of Space” (Weird War Tales #78, August 1979) was written by Michael Uslan. A spaceship destined to put down a revolt on a remote colony gets a surprise when Native American skeletons attack them. This is the kind of thing you’d expect from WWT. This one was written by Michael Uslan who would go on to produce Batman and the Swamp Thing movies.
“The Last Shot Fired” (Weird War Tales #96, February 1981) was written by George Kashdan. Earth develops a super-duper weapon called the Solar Cannon. One component is stolen from the device and our hero must track it down. he finds it in the hands of an alien from the Asteroid Belt. The alien convinces him that the weapon will destroy many worlds. The agent destroys the component in a fit of compassion.
“Jasper Pepperdyne, Defender of Time and Space” (Weird War Tales #108, February 1982) was written by Mike Barr and Len Wein. A spaceship encounters an oddly Victorian man in space, Jasper Pepperdyne. They later learn he was over three hundred years old. A nice Steampunk tale before Steampunk was invented.
“Those Who Ignore the Past…” (Weird War Tales #113, July 1982) was written by Martin Pasko. Aliens show up to raise man from the caves with their knowledge and philosophy. Unfortunately, the humans are too paranoid and kill themselves, the aliens and the Earth. Pasko feels war is inherent in our make-up. This kind of a big bummer ending was more typical of the Warren magazines.
“Captain Spaceman Will be Waiting” (Weird War Tales #123, May 1983) was written by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn. Human actors use a popular Sci-Fi show to scare off a real alien invasion. The design of the spacemen reminds me of DC’s Adam Strange. Buckler and Giacoia do a great job of looking like the Silver Age artwork.
Conclusion
By 1984 all of the DC Horror comics would be gone, including Weird War Tales along with the Warren black & whites . Science Fiction and superheroes were once again the star of the show. Before the DC anthologies were gone we did get a five issue special run of Time Warp (1979-180) that had some more space war stuff in it. Those lovely Mike Kaluta covers sold me on them. I know I bought all five.
Interest in space military maneuvers would have to wait for a couple of movie franchises to stir up some excitement. This included Aliens (1985), the second film with space marines in it. And the adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1997). These movies along with new video games like Halo and Starcraft would make space war comics a thing again. A good space war anthology comic, well, we can hope…
Discover these RAGE m a c h i n e SF books
Leave a Reply