Our Army at War (Featuring Sgt. Rock) One-Shot

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Hot on the heels of Sgt. Rock’s appearance in the recent DC Universe Legacies #4 comes a new a new Our Army at War one-shot, sporting a cover by Joe Kubert, no less! This story tells parallel tales of two very different wars… or are they really so different? After opening scenes set on December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001, the story follows the path of two soldiers into their respective wars using alternating panels. This technique is used frequently in comic books, but seldom to better effect. Most of the time I find it annoying and tend to read first one strain of the story, then the other, but “Time Stands Still for No Man” uses this technique as well as I have ever seen it used, and the cover blurb “War is War” succinctly sums up the theme of the story.

I was never a big fan of DC or Marvel’s war mags, but this story as well as the recently completed “Last Ride of the Howling Commandos” have got me reading both Sgt. Rock Archives as well as Sgt. Fury Masterworks.

[The Baron]

Interesting - I thought about picking that up, but gave it the miss. If I see it when I'm in the City tomorrow, maybe I'll give it a look.

[Philip Portelli]

Just a general gripe but everyone seems to be fans of DC and Marvel's war and western books yet pass up on the current ones. If so, how can we expect them to do more of them?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I had every intention of picking these up until I saw it was $3.99 for a regular sized issue (with a nice thick cover, though!). At those prices, I have to wait for reviews to help me figure out which ones to buy, since I'll only likely get one or two.

If DC hadn't priced me out (or had added a backup), I'd be buying all five. (There are 5 planned, right?)

[Philip Portelli]

Eventually, ALL comics are going to be $3.99. I don't like it anymore than you but it's coming. That's why we have to pick and choose what we support and what we don't. Do you want Sgt Rock and The Rawhide Kid or another Bat- or X-Title?

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Rob Staeger said:

I had every intention of picking these up until I saw it was $3.99 for a regular sized issue (with a nice thick cover, though!). At those prices, I have to wait for reviews to help me figure out which ones to buy, since I'll only likely get one or two.

If DC hadn't priced me out (or had added a backup), I'd be buying all five. (There are 5 planned, right?)

I skipped those one-shots for the same reason. Also, I know for the most part, I will be able to find them later for a much better price. Last week I was at my LCS and I got 2 full mini-series (7 comics total) out of their 50¢ bin, and even the owner was laughing that I bought all of those comics for less than the price of one issue if I had bought them new.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Philip Portelli said:

Eventually, ALL comics are going to be $3.99. I don't like it anymore than you but it's coming. That's why we have to pick and choose what we support and what we don't. Do you want Sgt Rock and The Rawhide Kid or another Bat- or X-Title?

Well, I'm not buying Bat or X-titles either, unless Morrison writes them. And even Batman's waiting for the trade.

I used to buy comics to "send a message." I can't afford to do that any more. My decision has to be driven by the question: "Is this object in front of me, this unit of entertainment, going to give me enough enjoyment to make it worth the price?" And a Sgt. Rock comic priced at $3.99 by creators I don't have much familiarity with (though the art looks nice) fails that test, on first blush, at least. A well reviewed Sgt. Rock comic under those same circumstances might pass. It depends on the competition.

On the other hand, Jonah Hex (at $2.99, with creators I enjoy) is able to cross that threshold with regularity.

Right now the $3.99 threshold gets passed by Legion, Adventure Comics, First Wave, Scarlet and DCU Legacies, all offering extra pages and a great reading experience. Also Astro City, a standard size book, but one I simply adore. (Another book I really enjoy, American Vampire, is going into wait-for-trades mode with me because it's keeping its $4 price point while dropping its page count.)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I should add that next week's Weird War Tales *does* pass the is-it-worth-it test, since it's got a story by Darwyn Cooke. He could publish nothing but Rainbow Brite, and I'd buy it.

[Philip Portelli]

To get away from economics, If Rock did die right before V-E Day, he still wouldn't have been the last casualty of WWII as the War in the Pacific continued. I always believed that Rock would have been horrified by the atomic bomb. He saw war as a battle between "soljers" not involving non-coms. Fight the War to stop War from happening again. Rock was a born leader, a great soldier but an even better man. Maybe what the DCU really needs is Frank Rock!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I looked at the Legacies story where he died -- it said that the Germans had already surrendered, but word hadn't reached the area where they were fighting. I doubt it would take 3 months for the news to travel, but the story also says they were the last bullets fired "in the war."

Personally, when I'd heard that idea, I was hoping we'd see a couple stories with Rock deployed into a front he was unfamiliar with -- a rare chance for a little fish-out-of-water with such an experienced character.

(And thanks for steering the conversation back on track, Phil!)

[ClarkKent_DC]

Rob Staeger said:

I looked at the Legacies story where he died -- it said that the Germans had already surrendered, but word hadn't reached the area where they were fighting. I doubt it would take 3 months for the news to travel, but the story also says they were the last bullets fired "in the war."

Personally, when I'd heard that idea, I was hoping we'd see a couple stories with Rock deployed into a front he was unfamiliar with -- a rare chance for a little fish-out-of-water with such an experienced character.

Actually, they did do that once, back in the day: Sgt. Rock did a five-issue stint in the China-Burma-India theater in Our Army at War #256-#260 (April-September 1973), written by Bob Kanigher and wondrously illustrated by Russ Heath.

Every now and then, they would do multi-part stories like this, but they're written and presented like stand-alone stories and not like story arcs or "series-within-a-series." On another thread, someone noted that "Batman: Year One" was the first time DC presented a story arc within a regular title as if it was a miniseries, but DC had already done that kind of storytelling without advertising it as such.