PRIVATE DOGTAG (1944) - More shapechanging and wacky inventions

Story in this post:
"Private Dogtag's Invading Japan" (story and art by Jack Cole)
Military Comics #32 (September, 1944 - Quality)

In 1944, the United States was all about fighting the war against Germany and Japan. Please keep this in mind when you read the extremely insane story in this post.

American comic book sales boomed during world war two as cratefuls were shipped to American G.I.'s overseas. Comic book publishers like Quality altered their content to appeal less to the kiddies and more to the soldiers. PVT. DOGTAG was one of a fleet of comics about inept soldiers. From SAD SACK to BEETLE BAILEY, the concept was enormously popular.

From Military Comics #18 (Bart Tumey)

PVT. DOGTAG was primarily drawn by Quality staffer BART TUMEY, who had a pleasant cartoony style. Tumey also penciled and inked several Plastic Man stories.

Jack Cole was one of the few top comic book artists in America who wasn't called up to serve in the military effort. As such, Cole had all the work he could take on. And take it he did, perhaps building up a cash reserve in case he was drafted. This was the year PLASTIC MAN got his own book, with Cole penning virtually every page of the first three issues. I don't have a year-by-year page count (yet),but it's quite possible that Jack Cole produced far more pages of comic book stories in 1944 than he did in any other year of his career.

As part of his extra work, Cole created three PVT. DOGTAG stories in the pages of Military Comics 29, 30, and 32, also returning to his 1941 series DEATH PATROL in the same run (see postings on Death Patrol here).

Military Comics #32 cover (not by Cole)

Thus far, I've only been able to locate one of Cole's PVT DOGTAG stories, in a muddy microfiche scan. I've cleaned the pages up as much as possible. If anyone out there can provide scans of Cole's work in Military Comics 29, 30, or 32, please send and we'll post them here.

Jack Cole's PVT. DOGTAG story from Military Comics #32 includes some of his favorite themes.

An inventor himself, Cole loved to build his stories around fantastic machines. Early in his career, he created a character called DICKIE DEAN, BOY INVENTOR and made several stories about him (Silver Streak Comics). In this story, Cole creates a "knowledge exchange machine," and mayhem ensues, of course.

Another theme that occurs throughout Cole's work is that of shapechanging, or altering one's face and identity (see posts on this theme here). In this story, a Japanese general effortlessly (and somewhat needlessly) transforms himself into a "high born Chinese lady."

It may be the poor quality of the scans, but not much in this story makes sense. It doesn't seem to matter. A dark undercurrent of outrage and retribution against the Japanese runs like a river through the twisting and winding plot.

The writing and artwork is loose and, not surpisingly -- given how many pages Cole was churning out at this time -- feels rushed. This work feels more like a 1939 Jack Cole story than the polished gems he was creating by 1944. The whole story feels like a crazy dream, filled with resentment and a wish that the world was different.

Speed on Paper - Quicksilver (1941)

Story presented in this post:

"Quicksilver" (Story and art by Jack Cole)

National Comics #13 (July, 1941 - Quality)

How do you show three-dimensional movement at high velocity in a two-dimensional context?

Or, minus the five-dollar words, how do you show speed on paper? That's a question that seems to occupy Jack Cole's mind in the early and, to a lesser degree, middle years of his career as a graphic storyteller. A great deal of his comic book work from 1939-1950 has speed both as a concept of the story, and a quality of the pacing itself. Cole's stories zip, screech, and zoom through ideas and innovations like no other, and it's one of the things that makes Cole great.

Jack Cole didn't create the character of Quicksilver, but he easily could have. Just a year or so earlier, he created another silvery speedster, THE SILVER STREAK, as well as THE COMET. Both heroes drew their power from whirlwind speed.

The "laughing Robin Hood," as Quicksilver was often called, debuted without an origin story in National #5, and ran for eight episodes before Cole turned in the one and only story he would make with this character. The primary artist on the series was the great Nick Cardy, but Cole's story is the stand-out in the series, which stayed a 6-page backup feature through 1949.

Poor Quicksilver never had an origin story or civilian identity. It hardly seems to matter in Cole's story. Aside from the greatest PLASTIC MAN stories, this dense six-page story may be the most perfect and pure expression of a Jack Cole superhero story. The words and images are perfectly melded together, the characters are lively and well-realized, the action is breathless and bizarre, and -- of course -- the level of invention in showing speed on paper is unsurpassed.

In comparing the earnest but grimly moralistic tone of his earlier superhero creations, THE COMET and SILVER STREAK, one sees the emergence of a sense of humor, and a decision to treat the idea of fighting crime as an absolute absurdity in itself, rich with irony and subtext -- a new direction that would result in the creation of Jack Cole's satirical and slapstick masterpiece, PLASTIC MAN, which would debut just one month later.

A word about about digital restoration. In some cases, it seems a good idea to take raw scans and alter them so they are more readable. The original work is treated with great respect. The biggest alteration we make to the pages is the replacement of the background paper, which is often discolored and has the reverse-side printing bleeding through. In the example below, you can see an example of what, hopefully, you will agree is an improvement. On this page, in addition to restoring the background paper, the areas of the title and the target were touched up.

It's too bad Jack Cole only made one Quicksilver story. On the other hand, it's a terrific story. Enjoy!

Death Patrol (Oct. 1941) - The 3rd in Jack Cole's tales of military madness

Story presented in this post:
"Death Patrol 3" (Story and art by Jack Cole)
Military Comics #3 (Quality - Oct. 1941)

Jack Cole created DEATH PATROL at virtually the same time he created PLASTIC MAN. In October, 1941 both the third PLASTIC MAN story and the third DEATH PATROL story, presented below, appeared.

After this entry in his morbidly hilarious take on war, Cole left the series to others, such as Gill Fox and Dave Berg (later of Mad fame). Cole returned to the series in April, 1944 (Military Comics #28) and landed five more astonishing adventures, for a total of eight Cole episodes. More information and other DP stories can be found in this blog here.

Jack Cole's unusual and challenging concept for the series was that each story would introduce a new character, and at the end, kill off one of the team. In this adventure, two members of the Death Patrol team are lost. This series is perhaps Cole's most overt display of the theme of death and morbidity that runs through his work.

Keep in mind the stories also introduced new characters, making the Death Patrol stories a balancing act between birth and death, and a testament to Cole's confidence in his own inventive creative powers.

Despite the heavy concept, the DEATH PATROL stories are wildly funny, and filled with comedic moments. Visually, they are extremely satisfying, with great composition and Cole's trademark bizarre character designs.

The use of black-striped prison uniforms adds a great deal of visual interest to the stories. Notice, in this story, how comparatively plain the last four pages are, after the characters don plain brown aviation suits over their prison stripes.

The outstanding splash panel of this story echoes Jack Cole's CLAW stories, which he created at roughly the same time for Lev Gleason Publications (and which will shortly be shared and studied on this blog!)