Who's This? Two soldiers and a dog.
The facts: One of the first recurring features in war comics, this duo was created by Robert Kanigher (of course) and Ross Andru for All-American Men of War #67-68 (in 1959), quickly moving to Our Fighting Forces where they would be the lead feature from '59 to '65 (issues 45-94), joined by Pooch of the K-9 unit as of issue #49. They return to that title five years later with issue #123 as members of the Losers (Pooch appears only infrequently) through the end of the book (#181 in 1978). The trio appears to die with the rest of their commando team during the Crisis in The Losers Special.
How you could have heard of them: Gunner and Sarge have since been referenced from time to time, most notably in DC: New Frontier and the Losers DC Showcase short.
Example story: Our Fighting Forces #64 (December 1961) "A Lifeline for Sarge!" by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti
The interesting quirk about Gunner & Sarge stories is that they're told in the first person. My historian friends (I somehow have many) are always going on about their interest in the World Wars having been fuelled by soldier diaries and other first-hand accounts. And these are essentially Gunner's diaries. This helps make the strip stand apart from Kanigher's many other war features (especially since there's no fantastic twist, unless you count the dog), and gets us into missions easily and organically. And since our hero is nominally a gun guy, the strip doesn't shy away from gun violence.
So we're in the Pacific theater and the snipers wait until they're right on top of you before firing. To give them the benefit of the doubt, I'll blame the jungle. It's easy to get lost or lose a target in there. If Gunner talks about his gun so much, it's because he's about to flash back to the one story where he shoots something else. Stay close, I'll fill you in. The military trio gets to escort a war photographer in this one. They except the photog to be scared shitless, not to snap picks while parachuting out of a crashing airplane in the middle of a dogfight!
I hope you're reading the narration, because Gunner is quite the colorful narrator. I hope he survived the war and wrote it all down (wait, does he die in the Crisis Losers Special? Dang!). Of course, Sarge isn't as enamoured of the kid's loquaciousness. As for the photographer, the big twist is that she's a SHE! (Was Kanigher floating a series for her?) Gunner is immediately tongue-tied cuz she is the pretty. In fact, only Sarge seems able to keep it in his pants; the whole platoon is mooning over her. Pooch too. AND the unit's scuzzy lieutenant who dismisses Gunner to take his place on patrol... until he sprains his ankle (officers, amirite?) and Gunner goes right back. But Miss Vicky doesn't like the circular search pattern (boooooring!) and finds ways to lead the patrol astray and hopefully into Pulitzer-winning action. And they find it - a sniper!
They soon deal with him (another helmet falls from a tree) and Vicky asks Gunner to snap pics of her taking pictures, as context, I guess. Nothing dangerous, just shots of her taking pictures of giant flowers (you know, like on any normal Pacific island). And of course, that's when a modern-day samurai decides to attack them.
And Gunner does what Gunner does best! He shoots! With a camera! Does HE get the Pulitzer, in this case? Then it's dodge, dodge, dodge, strike! And the enemy soldier is down. Miss Vicky is over the moon! Next: Patrol procedural to cross a river, and another attack, which Pooch smells a split-second in advance!
Holy crap! That was close! To avoid the attack, Sarge jumped into the water. He pops out, throws a rope to Pooch... so he can't get out of the river by himself? That's not what's happening here. It's actually a ploy to get the better of an enemy tank!
Boom! And Vicky got the shot. Or did she?
I'm with Pooch on this one.
Man, I'm always surprised/not surprised at how much enjoyment I get out of Kanigher's war comics. Even one grabbed at random, like this, is exciting and has a unique story to tell. Before reading this, I thought Gunner & Sarge were pretty generic (why read this rather than Sgt. Rock?), but now I'm into it and would read more!
Who's Next? Martian Manhunter's teacher's pet.
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