GI Combats was a long-running comic book series published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics, which was also DC's best war anthology comic from 1957 through 1987.

The focus was on stories about American soldiers and GI's initially. The stories involved Cold War adventures with strong anti-Communist themes, but over time the focus shifted to tales from World War II. After Quality Comics ceased publishing the title, most of the stories were set during this period. As with other media, the World War II setting was sometimes used to discuss themes pertinent to contemporary conflicts such as the Vietnam War.

The first issue of G.I. Combat was published in October 1952. When DC Comics acquired the rights to the Quality Comics characters and titles, they continued publishing the series starting with issue #44 (January 1957). Along with Blackhawk, G.I. Combat was one of very few war titles that continued to publish. Each issue of G.I. Combat was an anthology book composed of several short comic stories, a format that continued throughout its run. There were several recurring features in the DC Comics version of the title, including most notably "The Haunted Tank", which first appeared in issue #87 (May 1961) and ran until 1987. The Losers' first appearance as a group was with the Haunted Tank crew in issue #138 (Oct.-Nov. 1969), in a story titled "The Losers". Other recurring features included "The Bravos of Vietnam" (about U.S. Marines in the Vietnam War) and later in its run, a return to Cold War themes with a short-lived recurring feature about 1980's mercenaries. Beginning with issue #201 (April-May 1977), G.I. Combat was DC's only war comic to be upgraded to its "Dollar Comics" line, with additional pages of content beyond the then-standard 32-page format. The Dollar Comic format was used through issue #259 (November 1983). The series continued in a 52 page giant-sized format through issue #281 (January 1986) before returning to a standard 32 page size with #282 (March 1986). This first series ran for 288 issues.

The Monitor's first full appearance was in G.I. Combat #274 (February 1985). By the 1980s, war comics grew less marketable and Sgt. Rock, The Unknown Soldier, and Weird War Tales were discontinued. G.I. Combat's final issue was #288 (March 1987).

In May 2012, DC launched a new G.I. Combat ongoing series. Featured stories include "The War that Time Forgot" with back up stories starring the Unknown Soldier. The Haunted Tank feature began in issue #5. The new series will be canceled as of issue #7 on sale in December 2012.

It's a relief to pick up an anthology comic book where the only thing you need to concentrate on is the story that you are reading. That's the beauty of an anthology -- a self-contained story where you don't need to know anything about the characters except what the author is revealing as you read the issue.






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