Religion In The Comics - 044

[Cartoonist]

Here's a tale from Tell It To The Marines number 9, cover dated September 1954, published by Toby Press.











It's a long story with a couple of false starts. The old overworked squad cliche is first introduced. Before we could see this writer's take on it, it's over. We now have a new story, that of a man and his howitzer. This could have been interesting, but there's no follow up. No details of using this particular weapon. No characterization of the soldier who wields it.

Then we get the prayer business. I was raised Catholic but never got that prayer stuff. I had to recite my share of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, but that was just like reciting the multiplication tables. I never asked God for anything (may not be true). If I had found myself in a foxhole at the height of my belief, I still wouldn't have prayed.

[Warpy]

1. "Just like reciting the multiplication tables," yeah, it was that way for me, too

I knew there was nobody at the other end of the prayer line but I spend a terrified first few years of grammar school being afraid not to believe. By the time I was ten, I was in full rebellion and the following year I was sprung to public school.

I have no idea where the faith in prayer comes from. I knew at an early age that it didn't work any better than casting spells or sticking pins in a Voodoo doll did, meaning it didn't work at all.

[mr blur]

2. "No man could order him to fire on the house of God!"

[onager]

3. That writer must have been on drugs.

The U.S. Marines didn't land ANYWHERE in Europe during WWII. They were busy enough in the Pacific, visiting Gawd's tropical paradises like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

That seems like a really stupid goof. But I guess the writer figured his audience was kids who wouldn't know any better.

As often seen in religious hokum (like the entire bio of one Jesus Christ), the writer has sort-of mixed in a few facts with his fantasies.

There WAS a legendary Marine mortarman named "Lou." But his name was Lou Diamond. One famous story says he sunk a Japanese ship with mortar fire alone, but hardly anybody takes that one seriously.

If the name sounds familiar, the actor/director Lou Diamond Phillips is named for him. Phillips' father was a Marine.

[Cartoonist]

4. A more interesting story

I knew a story about the howitzer would have been better than the one we got.