The murder of a fine Cal. .50 killer by Joe Dope (Reel-2) is a 1943 U.S. Army Ordnance Department maintenance poster drawn by Warrant Officer Will Eisner. In six comic panels an aerial gunner fires a whole drum without cooling his gun, melts the barrel, and mourns it at a grave (NAID 514703).
The comic
Six panels tell one short story in rhyme. Joe Dope is in the middle of an air fight and wants to be an ace by morning. He holds the trigger through an entire drum, never lets the gun cool, and the barrel melts. The story ends with Joe mourning the gun at a grave marked "R.I.P."
THE MURDER OF A FINE CAL .50 'KILLER' BY Joe Dope REEL-2
[grave marker:] R.I.P. CAL. 50 AC
ALOFT IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT
JOE DOPE WOULD BE "ACE" OVERNIGHT
SO HE SHOOTS A WHOLE DRUM
- DOESN'T COOL OFF TH' GUN
... HEAT'S MELTED
THE BARREL JES' RIGHT!
[signature: WARRANT OFF. Will Eisner]
[imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-562295
[plate mark:] A11
Who it was for
The Army's Ordnance Department issued it, and it was printed by the Government Printing Office in 1943. The signature reads "WARRANT OFF. Will Eisner," so the artist drew it as a serving officer. The archive lists the audience as the Army's own forces, here its aircrews, and calls this the second sheet in the Joe Dope series; the title reads "REEL-2." The archive also holds a sheet titled "The murder of a perfectly good differential (reel-1)." No print run is recorded.
How to read it
The archive tags name-calling, and the name is the whole joke. "Joe Dope" is the man who does it wrong, and the title calls the ruined gun a murder victim. The humor is the delivery system. The lesson underneath is plain technical advice about overheating a weapon.
This is propaganda in the narrowest sense, and there is little to object to. It is aimed inward, at soldiers, about their own equipment. It makes no claim about the enemy, no claim about politics, and no demand on civilians. Ridicule of a fictional bungler is a cheap way to teach a rule, and it targets no real person or people.
Civilian security posters from the same year asked far more of the public; compare A Careless Word... Another Cross. The Navy's own crew-training verse is on Lubbers Don't Live!. The Roosevelt administration essay covers the offices that ran the civilian campaigns.
Sources
- FRAME object record, The murder of a fine Cal. .50 killer by Joe Dope (Reel-2), 1943. Ordnance Department, U.S. Army; artist Will Eisner.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-1143J, NAID 514703, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
