Blazing Combat HC (2009 Fantagraphics) 1st Edition comic books

1st Edition - 1st printing.

Written and edited by Archie Goodwin. Art by Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta, John Severin, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Russ Heath, Reed Crandall, and Wally Wood.

Superb reproduction from the original printer's film negativeso Deluxe, hardcover edition featuring breathtaking art from several acknowledged masters of the form, and candid, revealing interviews with Blazing Combat publisher James Warren and writer/editor Archie Goodwin.

Published by Warren Publishing from 1965 to 1966, Blazing Combat featured war stories in both contemporary and period settings, unified by a humanistic theme of the personal costs of war, rather than by traditional men's adventure motifs. As one letter writer in the third issue put it, 'Do you seriously expect to make money with a war magazine that publishes nothing but anti-war stories?' While most stories took place during World War II, they ranged in settings from the 18th century to the present-day. Some dealt with historical figures, such as Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold and his pre-traitorous victory at the Battle of Saratoga, while 'Foragers' focused on a fictitious soldier in General William T. Sherman's devastating March to the Sea during the American Civil War. 'Holding Action', set on the last day of the Korean War, ended with a gung-ho young soldier, unwilling to quit, being escorted over his protests into a medical vehicle. What proved to be the most controversial were stories set during the contemporary Vietnam War, particularly the classic short 'Landscape', which follows the thoughts of a Vietnamese peasant rice-farmer devoid of ideology, who nonetheless pays the ultimate price simply for living where he does. While writer Goodwin evenhandedly portrays the North Vietnamese Army brutal summary executions of village officials, and a well-meaning U.S. Army fatally bludgeoning its way through the village in a counterattack, the story caused key distributors to stop selling the title.

Hardcover, 8-in. x 10-in., 208 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $28.99.