Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Willy Schultz, Part 11

 

cover art by Sam Glanzman

Chapter 11 of "The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz" (written by Will Franz and drawn by Sam Glanzman) appeared in Fightin' Army #87 (September 1969). 


Willy has been a prisoner in Italy for the last few chapters. But when the prisoners are being transported north by train, British planes mistake it for an ammunition train and blow it up. Many of the POWs are killed, but Willy survives.


This leaves him free, but without food. In a brutal scene, he attacks a German soldier, killing the man for a piece of moldy bread.




He's ambushed soon after, but Lt. Newberry (another escaped POW) kills that German. 


The sequence is very powerful, with Franz and Glanzman using it to show how war brings out the most barbaric aspects of men. The story isn't condeming Willy or Newberry as heartless monsters--but it starkly shows that war can strip good men of a part of their humanity.


Soon after, Newberry steps on a mine. He's killed and Willy is wounded. Willy wakes up in an American aide station. When he sees a pair of MPs arrive, he assumes that he's been identified and is going to be arrested on the old murder charge. So he makes a break for it.



The irony is that the MPs weren't there to arrest him. They simply happened to be nearby and the medic caring for Willy had asked to give Willy a ride to the rear area. Willy had run for nothing.


In terms of the entire story arc, this is a gateway chapter taking Willy into the next phase of his life. But the scenes involving Willy and Newberry, succinctly but effectively examining the effects of war on people, makes it very powerful.


Next week, we'll leave behind war and take part in a fairy tale. 

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