Brant
Parker & Johnny Hart’s The Wizard of Id syndicated comic strip was
often reprinted or redrawn in underground and anti-war newspapers during the
Vietnam War era. Two Wizard of Id
strips focusing on protestors in the army were particularly popular, for
obvious reasons.
The strip from 19 June 1967
shows the King, hearing rumblings outside his castle window, asking the Duke,
“What’s that noise?” The Duke responds, “It’s a group of peace demonstrators
marching on the castle!” “Call out the army!” the King commands. The Duke,
looking out the window, says, “I don’t think that would help.” “Why not?” “The
group demonstrating is the army.”
The above strip, unchanged,
appeared in these underground papers: Task Force (Berkeley, CA), 10 August 1968, p. 7; Fun Travel Adventure (Fort Knox, KY), no. 4, Oct. 1968, p. 3; Flag in Action (Fort Campbell, KY), no.
2, December 1968; Vietnam GI, Stateside
Edition (Chicago), Jan. 1969, p.
4; NOLA Express, vol. 1, no 21, Jan
17-30, 1969; Top Secret (Cambridge,
MA), vol. 1, no. 1, 14 Feb. 1969, p. 1; P.O.W.
(Fort Ord, CA), no. 2, April 1971, p. 11; Veterans
Stars and Stripes for Peace (Chicago), vol. 2, no. 2, April 1969, p. 2; Final Flight, 1969; Shakedown (Fort Dix, Wrightstown, NJ), vol. 1, no. 9, 24 Sep. 1969,
p. 2; OM (Washington, DC), vol. 1,
no. 4, Oct. 1969, p. 10; Truth Instead
(San Francisco)¸vol. 1, no. 1, Nov.
1969, p. 1; Your Military Left (San
Antonio, TX), 1970, p. 2; Potemkin
(New York), vol. 1, no. 1, January 1970; We
Got the Brass (Tokyo, Japan), no. 2, 1970, p. 5; Where Are We? (Sierra Vista, AZ), Sep. 1971; Veterans Voice (Kansas City),
vol. 1, no. 3, Oct. 1971, p. 1.
The crude version below appeared in Fatigue Press (Fort Hood, Austin, TX), no. 14, 1969, p. 7.
This version appeared in The Short Times (Columbia, SC),
vol. 1, no. 3, March 1969, p. 7.
This version comes from Napalm (Fort Campbell, KY), vol. 1, no. 3, Sep. 1970, p. 13.
O4B Notes (Heidelberg, Germany), vol. 1, no. 1,
April 1976, p. 1. Here the king demands that ASA be called out to deal with
“demonstrators marching on Arlington Hall.” At the time this appeared,
Arlington Hall, in Virginia, was the headquarters of the U.S. Army Security
Agency (ASA).
Harass the Brass (Chanute AFB, Champaign, Illinois), vol.
1, no. 1, (May 1969?). “Air Force” replaces “Army.” Note in bottom right hand
corner: “Redrawn with apologies.”
Friends of M.D.M. (Winnetka, IL), 1970 (M.D.M = Movement for a Democratic Military); Navy Times Are Changin’ (North Chicago),
vol. 1, no. 4, July 1970, p. 4; Street
Journal (San Diego), vol. 2, no.
34, issue 62, July 31-August 6, 1970, p. 3; On
the Beach (Virginia Beach, VA), vol. 1, no. 1, Sep.-Oct. 1970, p. 2. “Navy”
replaces “Army.”
The theme is revisited in the strip for 19 April 1969.
The King: “What’s going on?” The Duke: “Protesters, sire.” The King: “What’s
their beef?” The Duke: “They’re against your sending the army off to fight.”
The King: “Where do peasants get off telling the king what to do?” The Duke:
“It’s not the peasants…it’s the army.”
The strip above, unchanged, appeared in these underground
papers: The Ultimate Weapon (Fort
Dix, PA), no. 2, 15 Jan. 1969, p. 1; Where
It’s At (West Berlin), vol. 2, no. 1, June 1969, p. 4; Gigline (Fort Bliss, TX), vol. 1, no. 3, Oct. 1969; Madison Kaleidoscope (Wisconsin), vol.
1, no. 10, Dec 1969, p. 6; Your Military
Left (San Antonio, TX), vol. 2, no. 4, Sep. 1970, p. 5; Rising Up Angry (Chicago), vol. 2, no.
5, 1 Jan. 1971, p. 13; People Emerging
Against Corrupt Establishments (UK), vol.
1, no. 8, March 1971, p. 10; Rage
(Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, NC), vol. 3, no. 2, Feb. 1974, p. 5.
Semper Fi (Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni,
Japan), vol. 4, no. 23, 15 December 1973, p. 5. The graffiti added to this
redrawn version are F.T.M.C. (Fuck
the Marine Corps) and Free Brother
Lawrence, which refers to the scheduled court-martial of Pfc. Edward V.
Lawrence, Jr., for his alleged attempt to kill an officer in Nam Phong,
Thailand, in July, 1973. A pre-trial agreement led to his release with an Honorable
Discharge. See Semper Fi, vol. 4, no.
24, 30 Dec. 1973, 4-5.
Travisty (Travis AFB, CA), vol. 1, no. 5, 1971, p.
7; Cry Out (Clark AFB, Philippines),
vol. 1, no. 2, March 1972, p. 5; Up From
the Bottom (San Diego), vol. 2, no. 4, 1972, p. 2. “Air Force” replaces “Army.”
Offul Times (Offutt AFB, Omaha, NB), no. 1, 28 April
1972, p. 5; The Rag (Chicago), Spring 1973 (“Newsletter for and by
Reservists and National Guardspeople,” not to be confused with The Rag out of Austin, Texas). Another
version in which “Air Force” replaces “Army.”
Liberty Call (San Diego, CA), vol. 1, no. 1, 12 May
1971, p. 2. “Navy” replaces “Army.”
Navy Times Are Changin’ (North Chicago), vol. 2, no. 2, May 1971,
p. 2. “Nav!” replaces “Army.”
Fed Up! (Fort Lewis, Tacoma, WA), 1 Jan. 1972, p.
5. The “crew (of the Coral Sea)” replaces “Army.”
The theme of soldiers unable to disrupt anti-war
protests because they themselves were taking part in those protests also
appeared in this comic strip (title and artist unknown to me), reprinted in The Short Times (Columbia, SC), vol. 4,
no. 3, 1 April 1971, p. 11.
It also featured in a skit in the “Free the
Army Tour” (also known as “The USSF Show”), in which Jane Fonda
and Garry Goodrow played Pat and Richard Nixon, respectively.
“The U.S.S.F. Show.” About Face!, vol. 1, no. 1, May 1971, p. 1.
All the periodicals featured in this post can be
accessed at Independent
Voices.
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Rage
(Fort Lejeune, Jacksonville, NC), vol. 3, no. 4, April 1974, p. 2.
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