Combat #10
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCombat #10 represents Dell's documentary approach to the war-comics genre at its most focused: an entire issue built around the pivot-point battle of the Pacific theater, the Battle of Midway, rendered not as escapist fiction but as a factually grounded retelling by a cartoonist who had actually served in that war. The series, which ran 40 issues from 1961 to 1973, stood apart from every competitor of the Silver Age by treating history as the story itself rather than as backdrop — and issue #10 is the entry most often cited when that distinction is illustrated. Its durability is measured not in genre conventions but in longevity: the Midway content from this issue was reprinted across multiple decades and multiple countries, and was still being selected for modern archival reprint editions more than fifty years after its original publication.
In the pivotal Battle of Midway, brothers Jeff and Alan Reed take to the skies in opposing aircraft—Jeff in a PBY Catalina, Alan in a TBD Devastator—each fighting to defend the island. As the fate of the Pacific hangs in the balance, Jeff's search for survivors leads him to a moment that will test more than just courage.
In "Out of the Gate," Lt. Nesco uses his fluency in Romanian—learned from his parents—to slip past enemy guards, posing as a German-aligned officer during a desperate bid for freedom. With only four pages to unfold his plan, the tension builds as he navigates the shifting dangers of a war-torn landscape, relying on quick thinking and a fragile disguise.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Dell's Combat launched in August 1961 under editor D.J. Arneson, with art throughout its original 26-issue run supplied by Sam Glanzman, an Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist and WWII Navy veteran who brought firsthand knowledge of shipboard warfare to every page. Issue #10, cover-coded 12-128-312 and dated October–December 1963, was scripted by Paul S. Newman (one of the few contributors whose involvement has been formally documented through trade bibliography and period fanzines). The cover, like many in the series, was a painted work, though the cover artist for this specific issue has not been definitively identified in surviving records. Newman's authorship of the scripts was confirmed through credits published in The Comic Reader #32 (December 1964) and later corroborated via Robin Snyder's journal.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published October–December 1963 by Dell Publishing Co.; 32 pages, full color; cover code 12-128-312.
- Primary story depicts the Battle of Midway through the fictional Reed brothers — Jeff (PBY Catalina pilot) and Alan (TBD Douglas Devastator pilot) — climaxing with the American sinking of four Japanese aircraft carriers.
- All interior story art is by Sam Glanzman, a WWII Navy veteran and Eisner Award nominee, signed throughout as 'S.J.G.'
- Scripts credited to Paul S. Newman, with authorship documented in The Comic Reader #32 (December 1964) and confirmed in Robin Snyder's The Comics journal.
- Additional stories in the issue cover 'High Ground,' 'Out of the Gate,' 'The Coral Sea Victory,' 'Turning the Tide,' and a profile of General George Patton Jr.
- The issue's content was reprinted in European editions (German Bildschirm Klassiker #801, Dutch Beeldscherm Classics #801, and Norwegian/Swedish Topp Serien #1) as early as 1963–1964.
- Reprinted domestically in Dell's own Combat #36 (July 1972), one of the reprint issues that made up the series' final 14 numbers.
- In January 2019, It's Alive Press (publisher Drew Ford, editor Jon B. Cooke) released Midway: From the Pages of Combat, a 52-page archival one-shot reprinting this issue's content with a variant cover by Russ Heath.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Beeldscherm Classics #801 (1963), Topp Serien #1 (1964), Toppserien #1 (1964), Combat #36 (1972), Dunkirk: From the Pages of Combat #[nn] (2018), D-Day: From the Pages of Combat #[nn] (2019), Midway: From the Pages of Combat #[nn] (2019), Bildschirm Klassiker #801
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