SSCC Ohio
  • HOME
  • ABOUT THE SSCC
  • CONTACT THE SSCC
  • 2011 FT THOMAS Newspaper articles
  • 2012 FACES of FT. THOMAS
  • WACO MILITARY EXPERIENCE
  • INVASION - AN SSCC DIORAMA
  • Battle of France Teaser - An SSCC Mini Dio
  • BATTLE OF FRANCE - An SSCC DIORAMA
  • The SSCC's Approved Vendor's List
  • MARINE Museum Review
  • SSCC DISPATCHES NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
  • THE OLD BLOG ARCHIVES
  • OLD BLOG ARCHIEVES p. 2
  • OLD BLOG ARCHIVES P.3

Haunted Tank...origins...

11/21/2010

17 Comments

 
A while back I did an update on Sgt. Rock and I thought that I would finally do a followup with my absolute favorite comic - The Haunted Tank. It is after all the inspiration for my own online comic, Jeb Savage and the Haunted M5.
Picture
Here's a brief history; 
        The Haunted Tank is a comic book feature that appeared in the DC Comics anthology war title G.I. Combat from 1961 through 1987. It was created by writer and editor Robert Kanigher and artist Russ Heath in G.I. Combat #87 (May 1961).
      The feature centers on the ghost of 19th-century Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart, who is sent by the spirit of Alexander the Great to act as a guardian over his two namesakes, Lieutenant Jeb Stuart (named in the early stories as Jeb Stuart Smith, but eventually just shortened to Jeb Stuart) and the Light Tank M3 Stuart that Jeb commands.
      “The Haunted Tank” was often the cover feature of G.I. Combat and was second only to Sgt. Rock as DC Comics’ longest-running war series.
Picture
      An origin story in G.I. Combat #114 reveals that, at the time of the ghost’s arrival, Jeb is a sergeant in the United States Army who commands a Stuart tank fighting with the Allies in the North African Campaign. Jeb and his men are childhood friends who had volunteered for the cavalry when World War II began. The original crew consists of Jeb as tank commander; Arch Asher, loader; Rick Rawlins, gunner; and Slim Stryker, driver.
Picture
The ghost of General Stuart does not initially care for his assignment, but is impressed with the fighting spirit of Jeb and his crew. Jeb further honors the ghost by flying a Confederate rather than a Union flag on his “haunted” tank. Jeb, however, is the only one who can see or hear the General. His crew thinks he is crazy, but continue to follow his leadership as he has solid tactical expertise (brought about through his consultations with the General, who usually gives him cryptic hints of future events) and rarely fails in his missions.
Picture
More recently, DC has published a couple of their large anthology books, The Haunted Tank, Part 1 and Part 2, between the two books you get 1,000 pages of Haunted Tank comics, in black and white, but it is a fun read. Of course all of my favorites are drawn and penned by Joe Kubert (hey, I'm a purist). 
Picture
A modern version of the Haunted Tank has also been done with an interesting twist that Jeb Stuart, modern tank commander is a black guy. He and the ghost has some interesting discussions. The  format is a little more adult, definitely not aimed at kids and the background is the Iraq war. Interesting art and storyline, I can't say that I really recommend it however.


Most of you are familiar with my own take on the Haunted Tank. The series was composed of 12 large episodes, followed by a D-Day Saga that was probably equivalent in size to about five more episodes. I have been working at revising them into comic book format and have the first 9 episodes completed. Eventually, I hope to have all of them featured on Point Man's Privy. It all started with these wonderful comics from the folks at DC. I never get tired of that little Stuart tank, always on patrol, always in danger. That's all until next time, have a good one!

17 Comments
    Picture

    SSCC 
    DAILY UPDATE 

    The SSCC DAILY UPDATE is for the members of the SSCC, but we don't have a bunch of passwords and stuff on here. If you are visiting our site, we welcome you to read the updates and respond with comments, questions, etc. We ask only that you keep it clean. - Thanks, the Management

    Archives

    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

    Categories

    All
    2010 Show
    Artillery
    Artwork
    Authenticity
    Batman
    Battle Of The Bulge
    Boat
    British
    Cannon
    Cavalry
    Civil War
    Ck2
    Custom Figure
    Dick Winters
    Diorama
    Dioramas
    Display
    Displays
    Dragon
    Dr. Zorkon
    Figures
    Flat Boat
    Ft. Thomas
    German
    Gi Joe
    Haunted M5
    Haunted Tank
    Horse
    Horses
    Indian
    Italian
    Jeep
    Junction
    Kitchen Wagon
    Lunken
    Meeting Night
    Modeling
    Modern
    Morris
    Mountain Man
    Old West
    Panzer Ii
    Pbr
    Printables
    Prospector
    Rat Patrol
    Reenacting
    Review
    Saddles
    Sas Desert Jeep
    Scifi
    Sci-Fi
    Sculpts
    Sgt Rock
    Show
    Shows
    Special Effects
    Speculation
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Stormtroopers
    Stuart Tank
    Tank
    Tc
    Time Wars
    Union
    Vietnam
    Wagon
    Web Site Updates
    Western
    Wwii
    WWII Sd.kfz 222

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.