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Showcase Presents #27
Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot, Vol. 1
Over 500 pages of classic adventures are included in this value-priced volume collecting one of the most unusual series ever from DC Comics! On an unnamed, uncharted Pacific island, dinosaurs continued to thrive while World War II raged across the globe. It's there that members of the U.S. Military found themselves armed only with standard-issue weapons against the deadliest predators ever to roam the Earth!
560 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2007
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About the author
Various
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 6, 2010
Reprints Star-Spangled War Stories #90, 92, 94-125, 127-128. Soldiers fighting World War II encounter dinosaurs. What could be a fun concept (men caught in a war face a new type of war that they were prepared for) turns into one of the world collections of old DC stories. Like most stories of the period there aren't any over-arcs but the writing in the individual stories is also horrible. There are constantly flashbacks that leave you wondering if you are reading the story or a flashback and despite the fact that the stories don't overlap, no one seems that amazed that they are fighting dinosaurs...even when it happens to them multiple times. It would be one thing if the dinosaurs were inspiring, but it is usually the same three dinosaurs each time (pterodacyl, t-rex, and snake or sea serpent). After the first couple of stories, the routine is set and rarely deviates.
October 21, 2007
Dinosaurs. World War II. American GIs. Also, one giant Japanese Army killer robot. What's not to like? Robert Kanigher, that's what. Or who. My God, the man likes to repeat himself. The trick to reading these Showcase Presents books, especially if the stories were written by Bob Kanigher, is that you have to read it in small doses. One or two issues per sitting and no more.
March 26, 2018
Here's what you're missing - circus acrobat soldiers vs. dinosaurs! voice-activated robot and soldier vs. dinosaurs! Every dinosaur that ever lived is a carnivore or bad tempered, and apparently of Godzilla-sized proportions. And the best part of all, to avoid confusion, there's only ONE plot for every single story! Somehow I actually read half this book before giving up.
Ross Andru's work is mostly good, though I wish his dinosaurs were a little less Godzilla and a little more science book.
Ross Andru's work is mostly good, though I wish his dinosaurs were a little less Godzilla and a little more science book.
February 15, 2024
Prime silver age madness. WW2 soldiers vs. fanciful dinosaurs? Ok, sure. The war angle gets pushed extra-repetitively, the reprint is black and white, and the art is oddly generic for the vast majority of the book despite being filled with awesome (scientifically incorrect even at the time) dinosaur art. Fun in small doses, which this is not.
April 7, 2019
Anthology of WW II soldiers fighting dinosaurs. Great stuff from early comic books. Like bing watching a TV series. After a while you get the pace and the themes repeat
December 26, 2020
You only need to read one or two issues to get the just of the entire book.
June 15, 2016
Date: circa 1942-1945
Place: The Pacific Theatre
Event: World War II
Status: TOP SECRET
Follow the adventures of the brave fighting men of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines as they take on the Imperial Japanese during the Second World War. The enemy has taken up refuge in the thousands of tiny islands that dot the Pacific Ocean. One area of key interest is a mysterious island that always seems to be covered by a dense fog bank. But what lurks inside the mist is a danger far more deadly than the combined might of the entire Japanese Empire...
This books collects the original stories of the War That Time Forgot that were published in the pages of Star Spangled War Stories from 1960-66. It's an odd collection of early adventures and versions of some of the legends of DC's WAR comics including GI Robot, Caveboy and Dino, the Losers, and the Suicide Squad. They fight the Imperialist Japanese in the air, on land, and below the waves but in everyone of these stories, they also battle dinosaurs!
1960s DC Comics is one of those eras in which you either love it or hate it. I grew up reading my father's comic book collection from when he was a boy and they were all titles from the 1960s. In other words, my heart belongs to Silver Age DC.
Not every one of these stories are gems. In every issue they phrase "relics from the Dinosaur Age" is repeated at least 3 times per adventure, during an thrilling attacks by the thunder lizards. But that's not what bothers me most about these adventures though it did get predictable over the course of this 500 page plus collection.
My biggest problem were the dinosaurs themselves. It wasn't that I thought the idea of the creatures surviving into modern times was a farce. No, my issue was that the sizes of the dinosaurs was preposterous. In at least 3 stories, a tank lands on the back of a dinosaur. But it doesn't crush the reptile, no it manages to carry the tank off into an other part of the island. There were never dinosaurs that big!
Then there are the pterodactyls. They're huge. I learned recently that some flying dinosaurs were the size of a small plane so having a P-47 Thunderbolt in a dog fight with a couple of these creatures is accurate. But there's no way that they were as large as a B-17 Flying Fortress!
Another issue was on how the soldiers dealt with these terrible lizards. Bullets seem to have no effect on them but a single hand grenade to the mouth can have these dinos pushing up daises? I find that highly suspect and felt a little like my intelligence was insulted.
Do I feel like I wasted my time with this book? Not at all. It is a little dated and kinda hokey? Yeah, but it was still an entertaining read. But if you are expecting a volume 2, forget it!
Every original Dinosaur Island story is collected in this archive. Why they numbered this volume 1 is something I don't have the answer to. But if you are looking to add to your collection some classic DC War stories without paying an arm and a leg, featuring artwork from legends like Joe Kubert, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito, this is a very good buy, though now out of print, it can be a little pricey unless you shop around.
Place: The Pacific Theatre
Event: World War II
Status: TOP SECRET
Follow the adventures of the brave fighting men of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines as they take on the Imperial Japanese during the Second World War. The enemy has taken up refuge in the thousands of tiny islands that dot the Pacific Ocean. One area of key interest is a mysterious island that always seems to be covered by a dense fog bank. But what lurks inside the mist is a danger far more deadly than the combined might of the entire Japanese Empire...
This books collects the original stories of the War That Time Forgot that were published in the pages of Star Spangled War Stories from 1960-66. It's an odd collection of early adventures and versions of some of the legends of DC's WAR comics including GI Robot, Caveboy and Dino, the Losers, and the Suicide Squad. They fight the Imperialist Japanese in the air, on land, and below the waves but in everyone of these stories, they also battle dinosaurs!
1960s DC Comics is one of those eras in which you either love it or hate it. I grew up reading my father's comic book collection from when he was a boy and they were all titles from the 1960s. In other words, my heart belongs to Silver Age DC.
Not every one of these stories are gems. In every issue they phrase "relics from the Dinosaur Age" is repeated at least 3 times per adventure, during an thrilling attacks by the thunder lizards. But that's not what bothers me most about these adventures though it did get predictable over the course of this 500 page plus collection.
My biggest problem were the dinosaurs themselves. It wasn't that I thought the idea of the creatures surviving into modern times was a farce. No, my issue was that the sizes of the dinosaurs was preposterous. In at least 3 stories, a tank lands on the back of a dinosaur. But it doesn't crush the reptile, no it manages to carry the tank off into an other part of the island. There were never dinosaurs that big!
Then there are the pterodactyls. They're huge. I learned recently that some flying dinosaurs were the size of a small plane so having a P-47 Thunderbolt in a dog fight with a couple of these creatures is accurate. But there's no way that they were as large as a B-17 Flying Fortress!
Another issue was on how the soldiers dealt with these terrible lizards. Bullets seem to have no effect on them but a single hand grenade to the mouth can have these dinos pushing up daises? I find that highly suspect and felt a little like my intelligence was insulted.
Do I feel like I wasted my time with this book? Not at all. It is a little dated and kinda hokey? Yeah, but it was still an entertaining read. But if you are expecting a volume 2, forget it!
Every original Dinosaur Island story is collected in this archive. Why they numbered this volume 1 is something I don't have the answer to. But if you are looking to add to your collection some classic DC War stories without paying an arm and a leg, featuring artwork from legends like Joe Kubert, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito, this is a very good buy, though now out of print, it can be a little pricey unless you shop around.
January 31, 2016
A fun foray into sixties war comics, with the twist of adding dinosaurs into the already volatile mix. These stories are some goid, solid storytelling the way comic books should be.
The list of artists reads like a list of legends: Russ Heath, Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, and the team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Robert Kanigher ably handles the writing.
This was the second appearance of a groupin the DC Universe with the monicker "Suicide Squad", this time given to a bunch of G.I.s. Two of them appear in several adventures with one man constantly threatening to shoot the othet to keep him from fleeing the mission (though he never ever tries to do so). Ya gotta have more conflict than just fighting prehistoric reptiles in these stories, don't cha know?
This Showcase volume, though in black-and-white, is a great read and deserves a spot in any comic fan's library.
The list of artists reads like a list of legends: Russ Heath, Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, and the team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Robert Kanigher ably handles the writing.
This was the second appearance of a groupin the DC Universe with the monicker "Suicide Squad", this time given to a bunch of G.I.s. Two of them appear in several adventures with one man constantly threatening to shoot the othet to keep him from fleeing the mission (though he never ever tries to do so). Ya gotta have more conflict than just fighting prehistoric reptiles in these stories, don't cha know?
This Showcase volume, though in black-and-white, is a great read and deserves a spot in any comic fan's library.
May 17, 2015
Dinosaurs vs. soldiers is great but better in small doses. This book has some fabulous 60s artwork and the stories are a lot of fun to dip into, but trying to read too many at once can become a bit monotonous. Soldiers get lost, attacked by sea monster and/or flying dinos, wash up on mysterious island, encounter more dinosaurs, escape - that's pretty much every story in this collection in a nutshell. They make things a little more interesting by having some recurring characters like "The Flying Boots", 3 acrobat brothers, G.I. Robot and Morgan & Mace, 2 soldiers who hate eat other as one blames the other for his brother's death and won't shut up about it, mentioning it about a half dozen times each story.
May 11, 2008
Your ability to enjoy this collection of comics from the 1960s is directly proportional to your ability to accept lines like "Never thought my life would depend on a G.I. Robot battling a dinosaur!" with a straight face. Basically, there's an island somewhere in the Pacific that has dinosaurs on it, and American soldiers and sailors fighting the Second World War keep getting lost on it. Again and again. Sometimes it's a guy and a robot, sometimes it's three brothers who were circus acrobats before the war, sometimes it's just some guys.
Why? Because Bob Kanigher, that's why.
Why? Because Bob Kanigher, that's why.
February 1, 2014
A differenza del molto migliore "Weir War Tales" questo showcase è composto quasi unicamente da storie di Bob Kaningher. Da pessime storie di Kaningher, peggiorate da disegni approssimativi, spesso fuori scala o a scala variabile, di Ross Andru. Si salvano, su quasi una trentina di storie, quelle disegnate da Joe Kubert (2 in tutto) quella di Gene Colan ed un altro paio.
Nel Pacifico, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, le forze americane devono combattere contro mostruosità antediluviane per arrivare ai giapponesi. Sempre la stessa storia, una brutta storia male narrata e male disegnata. Eppure lo spunto poteva essere decisamente sviluppato meglio.
Nel Pacifico, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, le forze americane devono combattere contro mostruosità antediluviane per arrivare ai giapponesi. Sempre la stessa storia, una brutta storia male narrata e male disegnata. Eppure lo spunto poteva essere decisamente sviluppato meglio.
January 15, 2016
The art is pretty solid throughout, but there's a definite sense of the same story being told over and over again, which didn't really occur in The Unknown Soldier, where each mission-story is essentially the same.
October 29, 2011
these stories worked as a monthly comic, but as an anthology they read the same. the art is wonderful!
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January 4, 2013i think dinosaurs were in it
October 1, 2013
Only so many ways you can tell the story of GI's from World War II fighting against dinosaurs.
October 7, 2014
From the old days when you could get away with have tanks and GI robots fighting monsters from the dawn of time without being too obviously ridiculous.
February 2, 2025
Los dibujos muy bien, pero todas las historietas son iguales y estúpidas a más no poder. Al final dejas de leer el texto y miras el arte, sin más.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews