Frontline Combat #1

Dates

Cover date

July-August 1951

On sale

March 2, 1951

Pages

36

Editions and covers

• Original edition

  Source ↗

Creators

Stories

• Marines Retreat! · 8 pages

  American forces are surrounded at the Changjin Reservoir, so they attempt to make their way back to the coast. Private Parks is dreaming of his kinfolk back at home, so much so that he puts himself in a precarious and probably fatal position.

• Enemy Assault! · 7 pages

  An American soldier finds himself in a standoff with a Chinese Communist soldier, and he sees that he is not just a robotic soldier advancing over a battlefield, but a living, breathing human being. As they talk, they realize they have much in common, including a wife and kids. But this IS war, and, as troops from both sides advance, a decision has to be made by both men.

• The Fatal Step · 1 pages

  Corporal Harkabus was on a scouting mission for the American armored division when he came across a German soldier, whom he immediately wounded. Treating the wound, Harkabus went merrily on his way, while the young German tried to warn him of something. But since Harkabus did not understand German, he did not know that the soldier was warning him that he was walking directly into a mine field!

• Depth-Charged · 1 pages

  Captain Harmon stood on the bridge of his naval destroyer, eyeing the movements of all hands on deck. Often known as "Rockhead" because of his tendency to disregard official orders, he is notified that DE 407 has been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, so he issues orders to go after that sub. Reaching the location of the sinking, he was notified that sonar had picked up a sub just below the surface, oddly sending out messages in dots and dashes. Not waiting to verify the identity of the ship, he ended up sinking an American submarine!

• O.P.! · 6 pages

  An Army howitzer officer makes contact with a forward operation post, inquiring as to whether the enemy is advancing and if they need support. The outcome is rather unexpected.

• Unterseeboot 113 · 7 pages

  A Nazi naval commander raises his U-Boat to the surface to take on supplies, but is shocked when the ship suddenly begins firing on him, noting that it is a British tanker, not German.

Reprinted in

The Complete Frontline Combat (1982), Frontline Combat (1995), EC Archives: Frontline Combat (2008), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (2012), Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics (2019)