When I was a kid back in the early 1960s, I remember reading a comic book called "Our Army At War." It featured an infantry squad in France during WWII. Some of the characters were Wild Man, Ice Cream Soldier, and Bulldozer. Their squad leader was Sgt Rock. He was a lot like the Gene Evans character, Sgt Rock, in this film. I was wondering if anyone knew whether or not The comic book Sgt Rock was based on Sgt Rock in Fixed Bayonets!
shareNone of this references the film or Sam Fuller, but I think it's very likely that Evans' character was a major inspiration for Sgt Rock:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Rock_(comics)
Note that Rock's creator speculated that Rock served in the 1st Infantry Division. This is the same division in which Fuller served and which is fighting in Fixed Bayonets (the regiments referenced in the opening scene in the tent - the 16th, 18th, 26th - were division's three infantry regiments). In reality the division did not fight in the Korean War but Fuller, understandably, couldn't resist paying homage to it in his film.
Are you refering to Sgt Rock of Easy Company. I think I read the same comics back in the 1960's
shareThat was him. As I recall, there was a page in the comic where kids could write in with a question about the military and Sgt. Rock would answer it. There were a couple of other comics, one was called G.I. Combat. It featured two guys in the Pacific named Gunner and Sarge. They worked with a white German Shepherd named Pooch. Another character was a Navajo fighter pilot named Johnny Cloud. If I remember right, he could see the spirit of a Navajo chief who helped him in his battles. Another group of characters was the crew of an American light Jeb Stuart tank who fought the Germans. The tank commander was visited by the ghost of General Jeb Stuart, who gave him advice. I think those comics only cost 10 cents back in those days.
shareMan, I wish I still had all those old comics!
Fight the FOCA
"GI Combat" featured the "Haunted Tank", an M5 Stuart Tank in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Combat
"Our Fighting Forces" featured Gunner and Sarge in the Pacific
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Fighting_Forces
"All American Men at War" featured an American Indian, John Cloud, a P-51 Mustang pilot
But my favorite was Sgt Rock, in "our Army at War"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Rock_(comics)