When the first issue of the Sergeant Rock comic book came out in 1959, World War II was a vivid memory for millions of Americans. Most of us had fathers who’d fought in it. War movies–you could see a different one every day. War-themed TV shows, from Combat to McHale’s Navy. Toy soldiers everywhere.
And Sgt. Rock, the comic book. How many of you remember it?
I never really got into this comic, although I did raise an eyebrow when the Sarge and Easy Company wound up on Dinosaur Island. But mostly they fought the Germans: hardly a fair fight, given Rock’s superhuman powers. You wonder why the war took as long as it did. He practically ate German troops for breakfast.
The series petered out in 1988. There was going to be a Sgt. Rock movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but nothing came of it.
My father was in the Navy, serving on an ammunition supply ship–a vessel which the Navy took pains to keep well out of the reach of enemy submarines. He never saw the enemy, and they certainly didn’t allow the ammo ship to get anywhere near combat. Dad’s brother was a Marine serving in Puerto Rico–no Sgt. Rock-type war stories from him, either.
Easy Company just never caught on with anybody in my family. I much preferred Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge.