Kurtzman

A comic called Two Fisted Tales by Harvey Kurtzman offers the early 1950’s American reader a critical opinion of American militarism. Through our talks of propaganda I want to bring up this American comic books that might constitute propaganda for peace.

First consider your viewpoint as the reader. A crazed American soldier is shooting at you. His fellow soldier happily tells him that there’s “AN ARMISTICE!” while he continues to shoot. Referring to the third soldier soldier with a bullet in his head the shooting soldier entails, “tell Jonesey here about the armistice”. The portrayal of an American soldier so distraught that he continues shooting after a peace treaty places blame directly upon the American military.This frame leads the viewer to criticism of the American military simply by having us face a frantic, disillusioned American caught in the  reciprocal violence of War.

Another early 1950’s American comic book by Kurtzman entitled Frontline Combat also differs from many patriotic comics of the time period. 

The viewer’s perspective of this Frontline Combat intrigues me. American soldiers walk along, one wonders if they hear a “kid crying” another says “nope”. I speculate that as the viewer we might assume the role of another orphaned Korean child or perhaps a dying family member. The viewer is crouched, low to the ground and not standing as the soldiers are. The viewer lay amongst rubble and broken furniture. As viewers of this image, we are lying in a house destroyed by war as the military passes by unconcerned. This frame highlights the circumstance in which the adoption industry solidifies because of the War in Korea. It is a visual depiction of a child being orphaned by American war atrocities. One problem I have with it, however, is why is the child hitting himself in the face? Anyone have a suggestion? It seems curious that this child would be punching himself in the face in the midst of this travesty. It almost brings a strange lightness to the situation. After these Comics Kurtzman went on to be writer and editor of Mad magazine so this may just be his strange humor.  

Anyway I thought bringing in these works would contrast well with the Marvel’s Combat Kelly and Battle Cry comics. The comics we read the first week of this course celebrated an American triumphalism and both put us as the viewer behind American soldiers facing aggressing Korean soldiers. Kurtzman’s Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat show horrible ramifications of American militarism. More importantly, they put us as the viewer facing realistic American aggression rather than the far-fetched battles we see in Marvel's comics. In highlighting American aggression, do you think Kurtzman might have inspired American readers to consider War differently? Do these works propagandize for peace?

Look at this Combat Kelly for a quick comparison. The viewer stands behind Combat Kelly with hundreds of Korean soldiers running at us. He has a single grenade. He is our only chance. These comics instill a certain fantastical fear about battle in the young American reader. Our survival as the viewer depends on a seemingly impossible outcome. Combat Kelly must defeat hundreds of soldiers in this 1951 publication or else the series would not have lasted until 1957. This narrative looks way more patriotic than Kurtzmans simply in where we stand as the viewer. In Marvel's work, we face fantasized Korean aggression, while in Kurtzman's work we face undeniable American aggression. 

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