Anyone read 1965's DYNAMITE JOE?

I have just one (coverless) copy of Harvey Comics' WARFRONT, which only had four issues but apparently continued numbering from some other title. The featured character is a "combat-happy"-- oops, make that "blast-happy" topkick named "Dynamite Joe." In it Joe and his fellow grunts take on a Nazi menace named "Half-Mask," who can shoot paralyzing rays out of the mechanical half-mask covering the normal features of Victor Von-- I mean, some German guy. This was the third of DJ's four appearances and the fourth one also featured Half-Mask as the villain.

My question: has anyone read the first two issues? Was there any attempt by this series' creators to do relatively realistic war stories-- I'm talking "Nick Fury realistic"-- or did they delve in sci-fi motifs right away?

I don't know much about it--I've seen lots of Harveys from that period but never that one. But no one else is jumping in with their Warfront collection, so I'll take a stab at it.

It actually continued the numbering from an earlier version of the title from the late '50s. Here are the covers:

http://www.comics.org/series/1684/covers/

From the GCD listings, it appears that Half-Mask returned in the final issue after debuting in the previous issue. They also had some familiar art names from the period, including a handful of pages by Wally Wood. Here are some examples of his pages:

This one may be from the issue you have: http://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/10/warfront-38-wally-wood-art.html

Here's another: http://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/10/warfront-38-wally-wood-art.html

It's hard to tell how "realistic" the stories were. I imagine, given the title, they tried to mimic Rock and/or Fury stories, which are so far from realistic it's not worth comparing. I don't remember a half-mask guy shooting paralyzing rays from his eyes during WW II, for instance, but he'd fit into Fury stories especially.

-- MSA

Replies

Mr. Silver Age August 31, 2013 at 3:19pm

I don't know much about it--I've seen lots of Harveys from that period but never that one. But no one else is jumping in with their Warfront collection, so I'll take a stab at it.

It actually continued the numbering from an earlier version of the title from the late '50s. Here are the covers:

http://www.comics.org/series/1684/covers/

From the GCD listings, it appears that Half-Mask returned in the final issue after debuting in the previous issue. They also had some familiar art names from the period, including a handful of pages by Wally Wood. Here are some examples of his pages:

This one may be from the issue you have: http://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/10/warfront-38-wally-wood-art.html

Here's another: http://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/10/warfront-38-wally-wood-art.html

It's hard to tell how "realistic" the stories were. I imagine, given the title, they tried to mimic Rock and/or Fury stories, which are so far from realistic it's not worth comparing. I don't remember a half-mask guy shooting paralyzing rays from his eyes during WW II, for instance, but he'd fit into Fury stories especially.

-- MSA
Gene Phillips August 31, 2013 at 6:00pm

Thanks.
Captain Comics August 31, 2013 at 10:51pm

Now I want to read it!

This reply was deleted.