Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders

Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders is a World War II comic book published by Marvel Comics.[1] The series lasted for nineteen issues, from January 1968 to March 1970. By issue 9 the name was switched to Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders. Created by Gary Friedrich and Dick Ayers book was a spin-off of the series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos which they wrote at the time.[2][3] The series was launched when Marvel suddenly received the ability to publish more titles than they had previously due to an embargo.[4]

Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders
The cover to Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders #1, art by Dick Ayers and Syd Shores.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Publication date	1968
No. of issues	19
Main character(s)	Captain Savage Leatherneck Raiders
Creative team
Created by	Gary Friedrich Dick Ayers
Written by	Gary Friedrich Arnold Drake Archie Goodwin
Artist(s)	Dick Ayers
Penciller(s)	Dick Ayers Don Heck
Inker(s)	Sydney 'Syd' Shores John Powers Severin
Letterer(s)	Art 'Artie' Simek Gaspar Saladino Irving 'Irv' Watanabe Herb Cooper Sam Rosen Jean Izzo
Colorist(s)	Several uncredited
Editor(s)	Stan Lee

Publication history

Per issue:

1. The Last Banzai, January 1968
2. The Return of Baron Strucker, March 1968
3. Two Against HYDRA, May 1968
4. Holocaust On Hydra Island, July 1968
5. Mission: Destroy the Invisible Enemy, August 1968
6. Mission: Save a Howler, September 1968
7. Objective: Ben Grimm, October 1968
8. Mission: Foul Ball, November 1968
9. The Gun-Runner, December 1968
10. To the Last Man, January 1969
11. Death of a Leatherneck!, February 1969
12. Pray For Simon Savage!, March 1969
13. The Junk-Heap Juggernauts, April 1969
14. Savage's First Mission, May 1969
15. Within the temple waits... death!, July 1969
16. War Is Hell--On Ice, September 1969
17. The unsinkable Jay Little Bear!, November 1969
18. The high cost of fighting!, January 1970
19. They Serve in Silence, March 1970

Plot

The series focuses on the characters of the elite Marine Corps team the Leatherneck Raiders and their lives in the Pacific theater of World War II.

Reception

Sales for the series were decent and a proposal to have a Captain Savage of the Silent Service series as a follow up was made, with Savage as a submarine commander, but it was not taken up.[5] Pierre Comtois, the author of the book "Marvel Comics in the 1970s" states that the series was an early experiment from Marvel before they realized that the superhero genre would be the one to dominate the comics market in the foreable future.[6] Comtois praised Ayers artwork and described the dialogue as "smooth and natural sounding", also stating that the plot generally moved forward properly without leaving plot threads hanging. Comtois hypothesised that the series was cancelled due to changing societal norms, such as anti-war sentiment, something which affected many war comics at the time.[7]

See also

• Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen, another spin-off of Sgt. Fury

References

1. Markstein, Don. "Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
2. Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-69. American Comic Book Chronicles Hc (Book 4). TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 193. ISBN 978-1605490557 – via Google Books.
3. Alexander, Mark (2012). Lee & Kirby: The Wonder Years. Jack Kirby Collector / Presents. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1605490380 – via Google Books.
4. Comtois, Pierre (2011). Marvel Comics In The 1970s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide To A Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1605490342 – via Google Books.
5. Christiansen, Jeff. "Simon Savage". Marvel Universe. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
6. Comtois, Pierre (2011). Marvel Comics In The 1970s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide To A Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1605490342 – via Google Books.
7. Comtois, Pierre (2011). Marvel Comics In The 1970s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide To A Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1605490342 – via Google Books.

External links

• Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Leatherneck Raiders at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.