Customer Reviews

Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the same company that brought us such "unusual" war comics series as ENEMY ACE, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, THE HAUNTED TANK, and THE CREATURE COMMANDOS (in WEIRD WAR TALES), comes perhaps the most off-beat war comics series of them all. There are a number of things to say about this collection. One must bear in mind the average age of DC's audience in the early sixties. The same kids reading these stories had probably watched KING KONG, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and GODZILLA on TV, and only a few years earlier, they would have been staging their own mock battles in sandboxes using bags of plastic army men and plastic dinosaurs (and sometimes substituting firecrackers for artillery shells, mortars, and grenades to fell the giant lizards). In short, the target audience was 8 to 12 year-olds.

If you're looking for accuracy in your dinosaurs, better look elsewhere. Writer and series creator Robert Kanigher's definition of "dinosaurs" is broad enough to encompass everything from outsized pterosaurs and prehistoric marine reptiles (both actually seperate classes from dinosaurs) to gi-normous chameleons and lizards, humongous sea turtles, eels, prehistoric fishes and crustaceans, and even a "giant white ape" (obviously inspired by THE SON OF KONG). The scale of these beasts ranges according to the demands of the plot. Pteranodons and pterodactyls can be merely huge enough to pick up soldiers in one claw, or big enough to gnaw on a submarine as though it were a fish. All in all, the creatures tend more to the GODZILLA end of the size range than the average tank-sized dinosaur. In Kanigher's defense, a lot less was known (at least by the general public) about dinosaurs back then. He probably figured it didn't matter, and he was probably right.

As far as the war story genre elements are concerned, the series is also rife with anachronisms. Early in the series, "World War II" is never mentioned, and we never even see the mysterious and generic "Enemy" that the U.S. troops speak of. Later on, references to the Japanese creep in, although we generally only see fortifications, equipment, or booby traps that they've left behind (even, in one instance, anticipating a trend that would become popular a couple of years later beginning with the Japanese cartoon GIGANTOR, a giant Japanese robot-soldier!). Later in the series we begin to see actual manned planes, ships, and subs of the Imperial Japanese forces, but encounters with actual Japanese troops face-to-face are all but missing. As far as the U.S. forces go, there are numerous instances of inaccurate equipment being shown (e.g. they didn't have helicopters during the war), but this shouldn't distress most readers. Just take it in the spirit of goofy fun that the series was intended for.

Besides the demands of trying to inject a fresh angle into an otherwise moribund DC war title, Kanigher borrows liberally from both KING KONG (the above-mentioned friendly "white ape"), and more particularly Edgar Rice Burroughs' World War I -era novel THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (made into a film starring Doug McClure in the 1970s). That novel featured a lost land in Antarctic climes kept warm by volcanic heat, where dinosaurs and cavemen survived for millions of years (to be borrowed from yet again by Marvel Comics for its 'Savage Land' inhabited by Ka-Zar), but the war element was predominate specifically in Burroughs' novel in that the plot involved the discovery of the prehistoric land (dubbed 'Caprona') by a half-British, half-German submarine crew (the Brits, led by an American named Bowen Tyler, had successfully managed to take over the German crew's sub before discovering the island). Both groups of sailors must put aside their war to work together to survive and escape from Caprona.

The War That Time Forgot series didn't feature continuing characters, although several characters do reoccur within in the series, usually in story arcs of 2 to 4 issues. The G.I ROBOT is introduced here, as are "The Flying Boots" (a trio of ex-circus acrobat siblings), and the SUICIDE SQUAD. Kanigher was obviously fond of using brothers or childhood buddies (or enemies - sometimes both!), thrown together again by the circumstances of war, and emphasizing the nature of working together to complete "The Mission". Toward the middle of the series, the SUICIDE SQUAD becomes the regular feature synonymous with the War That Time Forgot, although characters change every few issues, with the teams of Morgan & Mace, for example, or Wild One & Sheriff.

All in all, if you can toss your critical faculties out the window and just indulge in the pure fantasy of the concept, this book has a lot to offer either nostagia-wise, or for a kid (or kid-at-heart) of the appropriate age. This book would make a good gift for 8-12 year-olds who like dinosaurs and military stuff. But if they're interested, be sure to turn them on to such factual dinosaur material as the Discovery Channel's WALKING WITH DINOSAURS (and its sequels).

It's 500+ pages of G.I.'s fighting dinosaurs! What more do you need to know? Yes, it feels a little like reading the same story over and over and over again. So? G.I's fighting dinosaurs! As brilliant in concept as it is in execution.

The 3 stars is for what I remember of The War That Time Forgot. Even as a kid, I could only say it was alright.

OK, WWII and dinosaurs. OK, limited (very limited) characterization. OK, dumb stories. OK, not exactly knock-your-socks-off art (like I could do any better).

Still, from little acorns grow mighty oaks.

The War That Time Forgot is an integral part of Darwyn Cooke's NEW FRONTIER, an absolutely smashing maxi-series re-imagining DC Comics' Silver Age. Cooke takes all the old comic tropes and makes them new again, and relevant both to the times that they occurred in, and to today.

I can't tell you how TWTTF figures into NEW FRONTIER. That would definitely be a spoiler, and I have too much respect for Cooke's work to do that. Cooke himself has much respect for his source materials and their authors, and honors them with his imagination and very apparent love of and for the medium.

And hey, what's wrong with WWII and dinosaurs? Unbelievable, you say?

You believe a man can fly, don't you?

Holy Cow!! Dinosaurs AND WW II action!! What boy could resist? DC wasn't letting any grass grow under their feet in this '60s series (although someone on the team obviously was over fond of submarines). Just don't try to read the stories yourself as you'll only go mad.

THIS was what was so wonderful about the Silver Age, especially at DC -- no matter how absurd the premise, it was always worth a try. And DC really understood that its audience consisted of 12 year old boys with short attention spans and a desire to suspend disbelief. This was truly a high concept idea -- the cover of Star Spangled War Stories always depicted the gist of the conflict in one memorable image after another. If the stories are a bit light and vague, it doesn't matter. They're still fun, and my sons love them. I hope DC keeps bringing out these wonderful -- and affordable! -- collections for a new generation of readers and older fans with long and happy memories.

The comics in this collection are a scientist's nightmare; they depict American soldiers in World War II fighting dinosaurs and other assorted large creatures. Many are based on the "mysterious and extremely thick fog" that the soldiers travel through to an island where dinosaurs still roam. A King Kong type ape appears in a few of the stories and in what is probably the worst aspect of the stories; the giant reptiles are depicted as roaming on the polar ice. There are secret weapons, absurd grudges and even a G. I. robot in these stories to further stretch your imagination.
However, comic books should be read for fun so the reader should be able to suspend their scientific knowledge and read them as the mindless entertainment they are. After all, any physicist knows what some of Superman's actions would do to the surroundings yet that does not diminish the joy of seeing him in action. Applying that principle to this book will allow you to read about killing dinosaurs with only an occasional contrary thought.

I looked forward to this title for months. Only when I sat down to read it did I realize just how poor my memory of childhood titles is.
Basically this is the same set of three or four, at most, stories retold again and again.
Soldiers end up on a mysterious island, are attacked by various monsters, throw grenades and fire weapons to kill monsters, escape. Repeat.
The silliest thing is not the repetition. No, it's the trio of acrobat brothers who make apperances again and again.
I have not finished the book and probably never will. What's the point after reading the same storyline ten times in a row?
I have enjoyed the other Showcase Presents titles but this is definetly not one I will buy a sequel, if there is one, to.
There are so many other great DC series that could and should have been produced instead.

Honestly, I'm not even that sure how well this series played when it was released in the Silver Age.

The entire concept of dinosaurs against WW2 American soldiers can play for the first few stories but after that it really starts to stretch and get ridiculously repetitive.

The entire book also suffers from the American love of WW2 nostalgia that came after the war. The combat in this book hardly seems plausible even by the standards of Silver Age war comics.

I'm honestly not that sure what there is in here that could appeal to a modern reader. Unless you're a hardcore Silver Age completist, there is nothing wrong with skipping this collection. This was 400 pages of what should have been a six to eight issue miniseries.