I know that in it’s time the show was legendary, but not only is there an entire generation (verging on two) who have never seen it seeing as how it was filmed in black and white chances are they never will. So, for the record, The Phil Silvers Show was a sitcom set at a peacetime midwest Army base that ran on CBS between 1955 to 1959 starring comedian Phil Silvers. He played Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko, the living embodiment of the old army game, a fast talking, greedy conniving gambler and conman who both routinely fleeced and protected the men under his command. ruling the motor pool like his own private fiefdom.

All of which is important to know to fully appreciate Atlas’ comics Sergeant Barney Baker #2, presumably written by Stan Lee and drawn by (he signed it!) the great John Severin. Given up until this point in his career was best known for his work in the war and western genres his work here is quite a revelation — here he shows us the style he’ll later use while working for Cracked magazine for thirty-five years. In the past I’ve said some pretty harsh things about Stan Lee’s 50′s ‘humor’ output, and it’s over reliance on cheap joke book gags. But this is actually not bad for a line for line, note for note rip-off of a The Phil Silvers Show. As to why this was not deemed legally actionable by the show’s producers is beyond me — the only thing differentiating this from the genuine article was “Barney Baxter” is tall and thin while Bilko looked like…Phil Silvers.

In 1956 Atlas published three issues of Sergeant Barney Baker, a year before DC Comics got the license to do a Sergeant Bilko which lasted eighteen issues.