Savage Combat Tales #2
Published and © by Atlas (Seaboard), April 1975
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. (See review of Savage Combat Tales #1.) 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.
•••
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
