BRONZE AGE MINUTE: Savage Combat Tales #2

Categories: The Spotlight|Published On: August 23, 2024|Views: 2|

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Atlas (Seaboard); April 1975
Cover by Larry Lieber

Title: “Hellride!”
Synopsis: Sgt. Stryker and company race to get a one-star general to HQ with some important intel about the African front.

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: Al McWilliams

Review: Sgt. Stryker’s Death Squad continues to be a not-so-fresh take on the DC war comic template. That said, Archie Goodwin’s dialogue is solid, and the characters are starting to differentiate a bit. Al McWilliams is no Joe Kubert but his work here remains solid.

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Title: “Warhawk”
Synopsis: A maverick pilot resorts to unorthodox methods to win battle after battle in the skies above Burma.

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: Alex Toth

Review: Another solid bit of Archie Goodwin writing. But the real draw is the superlative cartooning of sequential art master Alex Toth.

Grade (for the entire issue): B+

Second opinion: “The highlight is #2 backup strip, drawn by Alex Toth.” – The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide second edition (2003)

Cool factor: Any time Alex Toth shows up, striking art tends to follow.

Character quotable: “Your men are just what every war needs! #*@!!* good killers! Be proud, boy… You got a &**!!@!, death squad!” – Gen. “Wild Bill” Wright, one-star general

Copyright ©2024 Off the Wahl Productions, all rights reserved. Each week, T. Andrew Wahl offers up a Bronze Age Minute. For more reviews like this one, check out Wahl’s website, offthewahl.com.

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