Willy Schultz, Part 8

cover artist uncredited

Fightin' Army #84 (March 1969) picks up right where the last issue left off, with writer Will Franz and artist Sam Glanzman putting Willy Schultz in front of a German firing squad. 

He's soon joined by the surviving British commandoes, who have been forced to surrender. What follows is a very dialogue-heavy scene. This can be a detriment in a medium that is a platform for visual storytelling. But, as I've mentioned before, Franz' scripts can make this work. The British commander gives us a powerful and thought-provoking speech on the nature of war--how it drives men to commit increasingly brutal acts. It's a speech that sets aside larger issues (such as the clear lack of choice in fightng the Nazis), but that's okay. This is commentary on what war forces men to do--what it forces them to become--which is an important point beyond the larger issues of when it may be right to go to war. 

This issue depends on Franz' skill as a writer to make his points clearly and dramatically. It is, after all, a little unlikely that soldiers about to get shot will take the time to give philosophical dissertations. But Franz succeeds in fitting this in to the natural flow of the story he's telling.

Anyway, Ilse, the German nurse Willy met two issues earlier, sees him. That she recognizes him might be a bit of a stretch, since she was recovering from temporary blindness and only sees a blurry image of his face in their earlier meeting. But that's a minor point. It turns out her dad is a general, so she has some pull. She has Willy pulled out from in front of the firing squad and send to a POW camp in Italy. 

Willy feels bad about leaving the commandos to die, but the commander points out it would do no good for Willy to die with them. The issue ends with Willy on a transport plane to Italy.

It's another great issue. Franz, backed by Glanzman's great art, continues to explore important aspects of the effect of war on people and the inherent tragedy of war. It also tells a slambang story and moves Willy out of North Africa and into an important new phase of his lonely war. We'll return to him soon.

Next week, we'll travel back to the Wild West and see how a blind woman helped catch some evil twins.