Fightin' Army #48

Charlton's Fightin' Army #48 from 1962 packs two tense action scenes onto a single cover by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache: in the upper panel, a military jeep crashes violently while helmeted soldiers scramble in the chaos, and in the lower panel, a soldier lunges forward with a firearm as another GI grapples with armed figures near what appears to be a diplomat in a pink suit. The interplay of split-panel storytelling gives this issue an almost cinematic energy, hinting at the kind of gritty Cold War military drama that Charlton did so well in the early '60s. Interior work by writer Joe Gill with art by Charles Nicholas and inks by Vince Alascia rounds out a solid entry in this long-running war anthology series.