published by Animated Timely Features Inc. Marvel Comics Group

Editor: Stan Lee Writer: Archie Goodwin Artist: Dick Ayers

Why it matters: This is a good piece from the years of Vietnam war propaganda. The cover shows the clever Leathernecks attacking Japan on surboards. The story is set in 1944 and the series is a spin-off. Some of the protagonists are friends with Sgt.Fury and his howling Commando, which started out in 1963. Fury was Jack Kirbys take on "the war genre". Later Fury was transformed into a superspy with lots of gadgets and villains trying to conquer the world. Fury was too much of a popular guy to let him stay in the past and the early Nick Fury -Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.-series was great. Jim Steranko did some of his best work on that title. Fury wasn't one of the original propaganda heroes like Captain America. Sgt.Fury was a way of covering all genres after Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had put out superheroes, Western and dozens of monster titles. War seemed to be just another genre.

The Leatherneck Raiders was Marvels second title with heroes fighting their way through WW II. The series was cancelled after 19 issues put out from Jan.1968 until March 1970 when Marvel was already concentrating on superheroes. The old way of telling stories within the war genre didn't work for readers too young to remember the war. The Leatherneck Raiders adapted the concept of a mixed team from Star Trek. There is a French, an Irishman, an American and a native american called Jay Little Bear who goes to war with bow and arrow. Sgt.Fury introduced the first Jewish hero in comics: Izzy Cohen. This was years before the Black Panther appeared in a title called Jungle Action

Sgt.Fury and The Leatherneck Raiders were a way of revamping the "art of war" with superhero-elements while still having "normal soldiers" as protagonists. Even though the setting is WW II in 1944, the series started with retelling the origin of Baron Wolfgang von Struckers ultra secret villain-organisation HYDRA. The evil Prussian aristocrat used to be one of Hitlers henchmen, but he had fallen from grace some day. Hitlers mayor henchman, Captain Americas arch nemesis, the Red Skull made him escape to Japan. Japanese subversives helped him out starting HYDRA, a secret society trying to dominate the world. The salute "Hail Hydra" reflects the nazi-background and the fascist ideology of HYDRA, but in the end none of this nonsense is about the real WW II. Reading Capt.Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders gives you the impression that the national socialists in Germany were minor thugs compared to the forces of HYDRA.

Captain America fought Hitler and the Red Skull on top of a castle over and over. The readers were tired of it. They demanded new villains and new situations within the setting of WW II. The Leatherneck Raiders filled the gap between war heroes and super agents. As a special forces team they fought Japs, Krauts and Hydra-thugs at the same time. They had a plane to fly around the world. The myth of the real leathernecks seemed to make these guys natural born heroes for a comic series. But the concept was too clumsy to survive.

The story in this issue is called "Objective: Ben Grimm" which is a pretty smart way to attract readers. It's a prequel-story about the war years of a guy called The Thing from the "worlds greatest comic magazine" aka.The Fantastic Four. The Thing was just Ben Grimm before cosmic radiation turned him into a brickwall. Mr.Fantastic of the FF also showed up in Sgt.Fury, but Stan Lee must have dropped the idea of writing about the past of these characters right away.

When Sgt.Fury was transformed into an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was the last guy to be transported from the fourties into the modern Marvel universe. He was just made a bit older and it worked much better than defreezing Captain America who spent twenty years in an iceblock. There was no more need for a second universe in the past until The Invaders started in 1975. But that was just another superhero-title for an audience who liked the touch of "the Golden Age" while The Leatherneck Raiders was supposed to be a new war comic with the legendary Marvel touch. It remains the only title of it's kind that Marvel has put out besides Sgt.Fury which was published until 1981. But Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD already started in June 1968 and it ran for 18 issues until March 1971 (Issues#1-3 and 5 were by Steranko who also did the first seven covers. Those are some of the finest pop art-comics ever made. Look for the collected edition!) So, Nick Fury had two titles at the same time for a while and the modern one was cancelled.

The Leatherneck Raiders was cancelled exactly a year before. It started shortly after Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD came out in January 1968. The Zeitgeist was getting restless that year. A strange time to do new war comics, I thought.

Nothing else on the web about this title. Shame on you, Marvel zombies! But that's what makes mad-science.net such an exclusive source, ha, ha...

-toonopedia.com on Sgt.Fury