Nurses as Objects in Comics: Joe Yank 12 - "The Battle of the Sexes"

Joe Yank was an early 50s Standard title of a kind of war comedy genre. Private Joe Yank and Sgt. Mike McGurk are the two main characters. I just acquired this comic, but I'm using pages from the scan available in the Digital Comic Museum. In this story, "Battle of the Sexes" by Ross Andru, we have a perfect example of image discrimination coupled with sexist exploitation of the female form. You'll also note the misleading cover, which depicts a scene that is not part of the actual story. What happens is McGurk gets hospitalized, and in the ward he encounters a nurse who doesn't fit the usual comic book stereotype of the pinup. With little else to do, and with a score to settle with Joe Yank, McGurk hatches a plan to make the Private experience some serious discomfort. He exploits the plain nurse's eagerness to find a man, and her unattractive features, to carry out his scheme.

Joe Yank turns up at the hospital to visit McGurk, and his first encounter with the nursing staff feeds his expectations, based on the kind of nurse image typically promoted by the male mind indulging in fantasy. This softens Joe Yank up for McGurk's ruse, and he buys it, hook, line, and sinker.

Joe Yank goes on his date, only to find he's been had. All he can think of from the moment he  meets the man-hungry homely nurse is how to get away, and in the end he has to resort to some extreme measures.

I know it's a comedy designed most likely for male military readers, but I can't help feeling that there's something not right about the way the unattractive woman is made fun of and is also humiliated. Not all women and not all nurses look like Marilyn Monroe.

Kind of an unusual nurse tale that raises some interesting questions about attitudes towards women in the early 1950s.

Social History in Comics: Two-Fisted Tales 30 - "Bunker!"

The first occasion that I am aware of on which comics addressed the issue of inter-racial strife within the US armed forces was in Two-Fisted Tales 30 (Nov-Dec 1952), in the story "Bunker!", written by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by Ric Estrada, with colors by Marie Severin. The famous cover of this issue is by Jack Davis.

The plot of "Bunker!" is straightforward. There's some Chinese soldiers holed up in a very strategically placed bunker, pinning down two platoons of U.S. troops, one segregated African American and the other segregated white. The two groups of American men are on different sides of the bunker, each trying to take the hill on which it is located.

The death of one of the African American soldiers spurs his comrades at arms to a heightened state of military aggression and they succeed in taking out the bunker with grenades, to avenge the fallen man. Consequently the hill is taken by the Americans, only it is the all-white platoon that reaches the top first and claims credit for the victory. This sparks a racist quarrel that looks like it could get out of hand.

The senior officer steps in and sorts out the argument before any damage is done. In classic EC style, the last panel is used to reveal the wording on the sign that has had the effect of bringing the African and white Americans together.

Published towards the end of the Korean War, this story involves segregated units, which still existed at the time in the U.S. Army, although full integration was not far away. The inter-racial conflict shown here is more of the nature of a rivalry, although there was definitely a hint that it could get nasty.

Social History in Comics: New Heroic Comics 81 - "Hill 528"

The significance of New Heroic Comics 81 (March 1953), published by Famous Funnies, is that it contains a short true story about the bravery of Corporal Fred McGee in the Korean War. Corporal McGee is still alive today, and is a decorated veteran of the Korean War. In this two page story depicting the events on Hill 528 for which Corporal McGee received his honors, McGee is not shown as an African American, even though that is his identity. Personally I think it is unlikely that this omission was deliberate on the part of the comic book creators. It is more likely that it was simply assumed that McGee was white, because in the early 1950s, institutional racism, if nothing else, tended to make society blind to the contributions of African Americans. It was as if a whole section of the population didn't exist, and you can see this by the absence of African American characters in comics throughout the 1950s especially. The error made on this comic is reminiscent of that made by the Marvel colorists on the cover of Sgt. Fury 1 in the early 60s - they simply assumed that all the characters were white, unaware of Lee and Kirby's intention to introduce diversity into the Marvel universe. Here then is "Hill 528". I wish that somebody who is a comic book creator would re-do this short story with McGee correctly depicted as an African American, and publish it somewhere while McGee is still alive.

As a special treat, here's the inside back cover of the comic, which features a Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree ad drawn by none other than Frank Frazetta!

Also, just to complete this short post, here's the cover of Sgt. Fury 1, showing the incorrectly colored Gabriel Jones:

Gabriel Jones is the famous African American horn-blowing member of the Howling Commandos.

Nurse Romance Stories: Lovelorn 18 - "Cupid Always Rings Twice"

I'm really fond of these early 52-page issues of ACG's love titles, and just look at the cute cover on this one. When you open up one of these babies you really feel as if you've got a substantial comic in your hands. Lovelorn 18 includes this wonderful Korean War nurse romance story, that addresses the very real situation many young women found themselves in during America's 20th Century wars. Here a newly qualified nurse, Jessica, falls in love with Alan, the son of a patient, but then he's called up to fight in Korea. Jessica wants to marry Alan anyway before he goes into action, and they have a wedding. Tragically he's shot down and presumed dead, and she receives that awful telegram, which sends her into a downward spiral of grief. A letter from her husband's friend and fellow combatant describes Alan's last moments and conveys his final words of love and hope that she would move on, marry a second time, and again find happiness. Jessica, however, clings to the hope that maybe her husband is somehow still alive, so she joins up as an army nurse, and heads for the front in Korea.

 

Out in Korea Jessica absorbs herself in her work of tending the wounded, but can't shake visions of her lost husband. Fate, however, seems to have something in store for this dedicated and faithful young woman, and she bumps into Major Charles Lawson, her husband's friend who had sent her the letter. Attachment to her husband, and lingering hope that he still lives, makes her feel guilty that she's attracted to Charles. To settle the issue Charles volunteers for a spying mission that takes him to the town where a US-friendly Korean man has reported he found and buried an American pilot's body at the time Jessica's husband, Alan, was shot down. Charles is successful in relaying vital information on the Communist positions, but is wounded, so Jessica gets permission to parachute in to treat him. She joins with him in defending the town against the North Koreans, and they hold out long enough for the UN forces to relieve them. Charles then reveals Alan's tags, proof that Jessica really is a widow and free to re-marry as her husband had wished.

 

As with many 'true-to-life' comic book stories, this one undoubtedly has some basis in reality. In the early 1950s men and women did still consider marriage a lifelong commitment, 'forswearing all others'. It's horrifying to me that I have to say "did still" but the truth is that many nowadays don't even attempt to remain faithful, or they consider marriage (if they go so far as to take that step) simply a temporary arrangement that they can dissolve whenever they feel like moving on to someone else. Of course I'm not including situations where there's real domestic violence and women need to escape. But marriage has become meaningless to many, and society has suffered as a result. It suggests to me that we're in a civilization that's passed it's peak and in decline, decadence being symptomatic and indicative of that decline. For America and the West, I'd put that peak in the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, but because of the West's influence on the world, everyone else is gradually following suit, and at the moment there doesn't seem to be a resurgence of real values and integrity anywhere around the globe, just more and more greed, degeneracy, corruption, and ultimately chaos.

So for me romance tales like this one offer a glimpse back in time to when we were stronger as people, when our word mattered, when we were striving for the good and betterment of all, and when we still had principles. Sure there were things that weren't right - we still had segregation, women weren't treated equally, and so on, but a society existed in which those things could be righted, and they were. But simultaneously a great 'evil' grew - corporate interests that care for nothing but profit and the bottom line, and these have expanded to consume us all. Business, it could be argued, profits from divorce - two households instead of one, needing two refrigerators, lawn mowers, televisions, etc. Or both partners in a couple working means more taxes being paid that can be diverted into corporate coffers by lobbyists. More credit card debt and loans that generate interest for the corporations. Old fashioned values don't have much of a place in such a world.

But might cupid ring twice in our society? Is a recovery possible here even at this late hour? Can the tide of nihilistic, existentialist materialism be turned back? Can we again fall in love with a set of principles like those that made America great in the first place? I hope I live long enough, and that events transpire such, that I will one day be able to say "Yes"!

Nurses At War: Young Romance 78 - "Army Nurse"

It took me some time to get this book. These Simon and Kirby post code issues are fairly tough to find. The cover is directly related to the nurse romance story that I am interested in here, set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. The art is by Argentinian artist Jo Albistur (signed).

In "Army Nurse", the nurses all love Doctor Roy, but the Doc only has eyes for one of them, and that's Joyce. He's been preparing to pop the question, and does so after a hard day's work. Joyce is over the moon to be engaged to her dream boat.

For some reason Roy keeps quiet about why he seems to always be giving Ruth Duryea assignments to work with him. Sure, he gives some plausible explanations - she's new and needs the training - but it doesn't quite all add up. Suddenly Joyce is snapped out of her jealous fog by the news that Roy's aircraft has gone down, and he's hurt. Joyce immediately volunteers to be the nurse to travel to the crash site. On the way the flak from the North Koreans almost makes her wish she'd stayed back at the camp, but she gets there to find Ruth tending to her intended. This is a bit much for her to take, and she removes her engagement ring from her finger and slips it into Roy's pocket, her dream perhaps over. Setting aside her jealousy, Joyce does the needful. Back at the M.A.S.H. Roy is operated on. However, afterward Ruth flies in and is assigned to the care of the wounded. It is then that Joyce discovers something that changes the whole picture.

Ruth has no romantic inclinations towards Roy. She's already married to the injured sergeant, secretly, because it's against regulations. Doctor Roy Nelson knew and has been covering for them. Joyce realizes what a chump she's been and fumbles in Roy's pocket to get her ring back. He's already ahead of her though, having found the ring there himself. He sees that his position, surrounded by a flock of marriageable, lovely nurses makes life difficult for Joyce, and so he prescribes the only reasonable cure - a wedding.

I like this artwork by Jo Albistur. I think I have another example of his work somewhere. He's mentioned on the Simon & Kirby Museum blog. It reminds me somewhat of Al Williamson's work. The image of nurses presented by this piece include the usual - aspiring for romantic involvement with a doctor, bitchy rivalry, they're all pretty in their nicely starched white uniforms and caps. These are nurses at war so there's bravery and willingness for self-sacrifice. Nice switch to the blue uniform for going out into the battlefield. Ruth Duryea is a redhead for the cover but blond in the story. Panel 7 on page 5 looks like it was intentionally drawn to match the cover, and is a little out of Albistur's natural style as a result (the cover looks Kirby or Simon/Kirby to me).

Anti-Racism in 1950s Comics: Frontline Combat 15 - "Perimeter!"

 

I've had to revise my whole presentation on desegregation in comic books, based on my discovery of this 8-page Wally Wood story (written, drawn, and inked) from EC's Frontline Combat 15 (Jan 1954). I'd seen the cover before, and upon seeing it again re-noticed the African American soldier there depicted. So I gave it a read. "Perimeter" is set in the Korean War and features a 'mixed unit' of Americans plus their South Korean allies outnumbered by a combination of Chinese and North Korean troops. What makes this story stand WAY out is it's overt anti-racist stance and it's use of a character with racist attitudes in order to get the point across. Lots of 40s and 50s comics use disparaging terms and stereotypes to belittle the nation's enemies, but characters in those stories uttering racially abusive labels are made to look like that's an acceptable norm. Not so with this masterpiece. In this story the main target of racist abuse is an African American soldier, Matthews, who stands up for his South Korean allies when one of the other soldiers, a Yankee it seems, named Miller, refers to Koreans as 'gooks'. The sergeant in charge of the unit is a Southerner, from Texas apparently, and in this way Wood carefully avoids the stereotype that it's only Southerners that are racists, while clearly acknowledging that non-racist individuals also existed in that population. The sergeant remains silent on the issue of racism, presumably because of the racist contingent in his unit and the need to retain the respect and loyalty of all his men in combat. His silence is, however, interpreted by Miller as simply a cover for prejudice on the part of the sergeant, although he has no evidence to support his assumption, only that the sergeant is from the South, a belief which is revealing in and of itself.

 

Wood places the seed of his powerful punchline near the beginning of the story - Matthews carries and reads his Bible as a source of strength. After surviving a massive onslaught from the enemy, it's Miller who starts cracking up, convinced they're all going to die, and Matthews who offers him support, an offer which is met with scorn. The sergeant steps in and breaks up a potential conflict, and Miller reminds us that back home segregation is in full force. So here's an example of how the military was ahead of everyone else in terms of integration. Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Harry S. Truman, had signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948, after three years of build-up towards desegregation of the military. There was significant establishment of integration during the Korean War, but Vietnam is known for being the first fully integrated war. The military were years ahead of the Civil Rights Movement, and the G. I. Bill, which helped some returning African American soldiers carve out lives they would otherwise have been denied, was also an important factor in moving towards ending segregation at home.

Back to the story and the enemy mounts a new assault, and this time the Americans and their allies are forced to retreat, with the exception of the sergeant, armed with a Browning Automatic. Hearing a wounded American soldier nearby, in the rain and in the dark, he risks his life to pull him back to his foxhole, despite the soldier's insistence that he save himself and leave him to die. The soldier passes something, that we don't see, to the sergeant, asking him to give it to his family. The sergeant holds off one enemy attack after another, exhausting the B.A.R.'s ammo, and then his carbine's, until he's fending off North Koreans in hand to hand combat. Eventually day breaks and the worst is over. While waiting for reinforcements, the sergeant sits reading Matthews' Bible. Among those Americans who move back up to the sergeant's position is Miller, who scathingly derides the sergeant for risking his life for an African American (Miller obviously uses racist terminology, which Wood significantly turns into a deleted expletive). Matthews is hurt bad, but still alive thanks to his sergeant, who hands the Bible to Miller, commenting that he (Miller) is the one most in need of it. In classic EC fashion the last panel delivers the punch, or in this case the heftiest kick in the bal@& of racism imaginable - the Bible, by which many racists allegedly lived, is open, and we can just read the verse: Malachi 2.10 - "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?"

Being the industry leader, at least from an artistic point of view, in the early 50s, EC had a major impact on the style of writers and artists of many other companies. Had the witch hunts and the Comics Code not destroyed the gains EC had achieved with the medium, including their willingness to go out on a limb and broach subjects like this, maybe integration in comic books would have moved faster than it did. As it was, it looks like there's almost an 8 year gap between Frontline Combat 15 and DC's Our Army At War 113 featuring Jackie Johnson. Also of note is that DC don't actually bring the race issue out into the open until OAAW 160 a few years later, when Jackie fights the Nazi boxer, and then it's only an indirect reference to racism in the USA. You have to make the leap between racist Nazis of WWII and contemporary racists in 1960s America. So to say again that EC were ahead of their time is a real understatement. The storytelling and the art in "Perimeter" are just astounding. Wood does those night-time panels exquisitely, and Marie Severin did a totally amazing job of capturing the right atmosphere with the colors. So this one also has my vote for inclusion in the as yet non-existent comic book story hall of fame.

Note: my gratitude goes out to Joshua Thirteen for these scans.