ENG 12S: Comics go to War

So just to prove you can't keep a good War down, my summer course which was cancelled at the last minute lives again as a last-minute addition to a Fall quarter with too many students and not enough courses.

The final reading list is a very painful compromise.

Captain America Comics (1941)

Truth: Red, White & Black

Blazing Combat!

Blackhawk: Blood & Iron

Enemy Ace

It Was a War of the Trenches

The 'Nam

Safe Area Gorazde

Unknown Soldier: Haunted House

The great tragedy is Fax from Sarajevo, which is out of print and not in Dark Horse's digital comics library. With 60 students, I can't rely on a single personal copy put on reserve. UCR's Eaton Collection is very hit-or-miss with war comics, and it's usually miss. We have one issue of Two-Fisted Tales, for example. I wanted to at least look at Haunted Tank, but it and the other DC collections are all out of print; even Enemy Ace is going to be a real gamble, and it is the least popular of all those books.

But my students will be able to pick another war comic of their choice for their research paper, so there is some flexibility in there and I am sure that someone will do the other great war comics which we don't have access to in large quantities, or cannot get in time for a class which started one week into the quarter.

Tip of the Hat to Corey Creekmur, who recommended War of the Trenches and Blazing Combat. My old friend Dan Brophy reminded me of Chaykin's Blackhawk, and Nicole suggested Truth, which is especially useful as it can be read through Marvel's Digital Comics library, which means we can read it right away and we don't have to worry about ordering from Amazon.