DC Goes to War
by Robert Kanigher and various
DC Comics
ISBN-13 : 978-1779500151
$39.99

This is a pretty decent hardcover compilation of great War comics. From the 1950s to the 1980s DC’s War comics boasted some of the top creators in the company’s history, and this hardcover collection includes work by Joe Kubert, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Russ Heath, Mort Drucker, John Severin, Garth Ennis, Eduardo Baretto and more.  In my original review I complained about how much this book overlaps with a previous compilation, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a newly-printed collection of terrfic war comics.

Four of the stories collected in DC Goes To War were not included in the previous collection, and only three of those were published in the ensuing forty-plus years since that first collection. One of those newer stories, an excellect Enemy Ace mini-series from 2001, written by Garth Ennis, takes up the last 100 pages of this 352-page collection. It’s a great story and well deserving of a reprint.

DC Goes To War includes the first notable appearances of Blackhawk, Hop Harrigan, Sgt. Rock, The Haunted Tank, The Unknown Soldier, Capt. Hunter, Gunner and Pooch, Mlle. Marie and Enemy Ace. This book makes for a good overview and introduction to the vast pantheon of DC’s classic war comics.

Since DC shut down their war comics in the mid-1980s, there haven’t been many memorable war comics published by them. Many of the better recent stories are already collected in hardcover or paperback form.

As I said, DC Goes To War is a terrific collection, if you don’t already have the 1979 book, America at War: The Best of DC War Comics. It’s a good introduction to DC’s war comics, and the production is pretty decent. You can order it from any bookseller by using the ISBN code, or you can get it at a discount from Amazon.

Highly recommended for fans of well-crafted comic books, thrilling war adventures, or high-quality art.