Corpse on the Imjin

Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Corpse of the Imjin! collects stories by Harvey Kurtzman from Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat from EC Comics.

Like a lot of people, I mostly associated Harvey Kurtzman with Mad Magazine. As I chewed through Fantagraphics EC Artists Library, I kept avoiding it. War comics? Whatever. Anyway, I finally caved in and found this volume to be magnificent.

This book contains 11 war stories written and drawn by Harvey Kurtzman and 14 with scripts and layouts by Kurtzman with art by others, the others being future legends like Alex Toth, Joe Kubert, Russ Heath, and Gene Colan. Kurtzman's covers are also collected here, live and in color.

First off, Kurtzman's scripts do a lot to strip away the heroism of war, making most of the tales bleak stories of men facing their doom. I wouldn't say they're anti-war exactly, more like realistic war. The tales feature poignant moments and some are actually touching. My three favorite tales were Air Burst, The Big If, and the title tale, Corpse on the Imjin, though I wouldn't say there was a dud in the bunch.

Kurtzman's art did a lot to elevate him in my esteem. I associated him more with humor but his cartoony style is equally adept at depicting the atrocities of war. Seriously, Harvey Kurtzman is now my favorite EC Artist not named Wally Wood. The guest artists knock it out of the part as well, particularly Alex Toth in his two tales.

Corpse on the Imjin shows why Harvey Kurtzman was a comics pioneer. The Harvey Awards are named after a fitting artist. 4.5 out of 5 stars.


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