Battle #43

The cover of Battle #43 promises "all brand-new battle adventures" right in the Atlas tradition, and Joe Maneely's cover art delivers a gripping scene: a squad of GIs hunkered behind rocky cover, unleashing bazookas and rifles at a column of enemy tanks visible in the distance, with a rocket streak already blazing toward its target in a burst of fire and smoke. The tagline — "It had to be done at any cost! It was the G.I.'s job to… 'Stop the Tanks!'" — sets the desperate, high-stakes tone perfectly. Inside, Gene Colan handles the art with Ray Holloway on lettering, making this 1955 ten-cent issue a solid showcase of Atlas war comics at their most earnest and action-packed.