Willy Schultz, Part 9

 

cover art by Sam Glanzman

Fightin' Army #85 (May 1969) gives us the ninth chapter in "The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz," written by Will Franz and drawn by Sam Glanzman.

There's a time jump of several months, taking us to September 1943. The Nazis have been driven out of North Africa and Sicily. The Allies have invaded Italy. And Willy Schultz, in the meantime, is in a prison camp in Italy, sharing the facility with British prisoners.

As we rejoin Willy, he's stopping a wire-happy officer named Newberry from trying to scale the fence in broad daylight, preventing him from being gunned down by the German guards. Newberry, Schulz learns, was once a well-liked joker in his outfit, keeping up morale. But the death of a good friend put him over the edge.

Later, the ranking British officer (Major MacRoberts) brings Willy a proposition. The escape committee has made two German uniforms and its known that Willy speaks fluent German. MacRoberts wants Willy to take Newberry out through a blind spot in the wire one night. It'll be risky, because Newberry might break and give the show away. But if he stays in the camp, he'll definitely break. 

Also, Willy learns that Newberry killed a German guard a few nights earlier. The Brits have hidden the body and the Germans think the guy deserted. But its only a matter of time before the body is found. Newberry could not stand up under questioning and the Germans would be likely to execute him.

So there's several reasons Newberry HAS to get out. But doing so will be dangerous. Willy isn't sure he wants to accept that risk. After all, he tells MacRoberts, he's safe here. He can live out the war in a relatively risk-free environment. Why should he stick his neck out?

This reasoning doesn't go over well with MacRoberts, who calls Willy and out-and-out coward. This shames Willy into changing his mind. He'll escape with Newberry--an event that will be saved for the next issue.

This chapter in Willy's life is almost entirely expository, with very little action. It's essentially all background information to set up the escape attempt in the next chapter. So it is a little slow. All the same, the dialogue flows naturally, Newberry's backstory is interesting and Glanzman's shifting "camera" from panel to panel keeps it visually interesting. In a story arc where each chapter is just 8 or 9 pages, there's room to pause for exposition without slowing the story down, especially when one is reading the saga in a single collected volume, as I am. I suppose it may be that readers in 1969, who would have to wait 2 months for the next chapter, might have wished for a little more. But I'm okay with it.

Next week, we'll head out West for a visit with Annie Oakley.