Ruskd's favorite military pages, page 1

Last login: 28 months agoRuskd: Rusk is a 44 year old married guy from West Des Moines, Iowa, USA.; Likes 2,720 pages, 2 videos, 108 photos • 104 fans • Received 13 reviews; Member since Aug 25, 2005

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Cover #9: Apr 7, 2006 6:26am 1 review military
http://www.acomics.com/covern9.htm; TWO FISTED TALES #26 (1952) HARVEY KURTZMAN If Crandall's cover to Master Comics #26 exemplifies our attitude as a nation during WW II, so to does Harvey Kurtzman's cover for Two Fisted Tales #26 reflect the mood surrounding our involvement in the Korean conflict. In a wonderfully dramatic and simple image, a beleaguered, frostbitten American soldier props up his wounded buddy, and from a darkly expressive face almost hidden beneath his helmet proclaims: "Some say us Marines RETREATED from the Changjin Reservoir! Heck! We didn't retreat! We just ADVANCED in another direction!" By the time this book was released the United States had been in the war for almost 2 years and many Americans were either indifferent or disenchanted with the "police action" after enduring the terrible hardships and loss of WW II. The soldiers here, in comparison to depictions in the '41-'45 period, are battered, haggard men. The drawing alone sans dialogue would have been powerful enough--the look on the face of the main soldier, his breath steaming out while the snow falls in fist-sized flakes around him, says volumes--but the addition of dialogue gives us an added insight into the mind of the retreating soldier and is a poignant commentary on the pride and will of the American Marine. Like many great covers, Kurtzman allows the central image to speak for itself, with a simple sky blue background silhouetting the weighty, forlorn figures. The color scheme, also designed by Kurtzman (he prepared color guides for all of his covers) is a masterpiece. Using color holds for the snow on the men and in the sky, he creates a time, a place and a mood which combine for a truly special cover.

Cover #16: Feb 8, 2006 5:18am 1 review military
http://www.acomics.com/covern16.htm; STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #138 (1968) JOE KUBERT This is the face of war according to Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher. As depicted on this classic cover, German WWI ace Rittmeister Hans Von Hammer is first and foremost a man, not an instrument of government. Here he is humanized not only through Kanigher's story, but through Kubert's subtle and quiet portrayal of him as a man who hates war, only doing war's bidding because it is his duty. The strong design of this cover--with a blood-red diagonal cut across the brooding, monochromatic specter of the Enemy Ace set against a black background--is a powerful and stark reminder that death looms large for those engaged in the business of war.