Star Spangled War Stories #126

Few comics from 1966 could stop a spinner-rack browser cold quite like this one — the cover by Joe Kubert throws a gorilla in sergeant's stripes and combat gear right into the thick of battle, blazing away with a rifle while Marines charge through the smoke behind him and a wide-eyed soldier in the foreground stares in disbelief. The bold cover blurb promises the story of "the only non-com who escaped from a zoo to join the Marines — Sgt. Gorilla," and Kubert's kinetic linework makes that premise feel thrillingly plausible. Robert Kanigher and Kubert were DC's premier war-comics team in 1966, and Star Spangled War Stories #126 showcases exactly the kind of wonderfully offbeat storytelling that made this series a standout of the era.