The Leatherneck Raiders are a fictional World War II unit in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Gary Friedrich and Dick Ayers, they were a specially trained tactical commando squad. "Leatherneck" is a military slang term for a member of the United States Marine Corps, the Marine Raiders were a special World War II unit. The character Captain Savage is unrelated to the 1939 Fox Feature Syndicate character of that name.
Publication history
Captain Savage's first appearance in Marvel Comics was in Sgt. Fury #10 "On to Okinawa" as the submarine captain that aids Fury and his team. The Leatherneck Raiders starred in their own Marvel Comics series, Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders, which ran 19 issues from Jan. 1968 รข€" Mar. 1970. (The title of the comic changed to Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders with issue #9 with Savage shaving off his beard.) Savage regrew his beard in the last issue #19, a proposal to have a Captain Savage of the Silent Service with Savage as a submarine commander was not taken up.
Fictional team history
The Leathernecks were commanded by U.S. Navy submarine Captain Simon Savage, who modeled his squad after his one-time associate Nick Fury's Howling Commandos. Savage had appeared in several of the Howling Commando issues as the commander of the USS Sea Wolf, a submarine taking them on missions. Why an experienced submarine commander with an equivalent Army/Marine rank of Colonel was employed to lead a small squad (usually led by a Corporal) on land operations was never explained.
Although the Leatherneck Raiders (also known as the "Leathernecks," and the "Battlefield Raiders") were an effective fighting force in World War II, they never achieved the recognition that the Howling Commandos received.
In the premiere issue, the Raiders fought on Tarawa. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th issues had the Raiders come across Baron Strucker and HYDRA on a Pacific Island.
Savage, now a colonel, appeared in Fall of the Hulks: Gamma at the funeral of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.
Team members
Aside from Captain Savage, the team consisted of:
- Private Lee Baker (who was killed in action)
- Corporal Jacques Larocque
- Private Jay Little Bear
- Seaman Roy "Blarney" Stone
- Sgt. Sam "Yakkety" Yates
Australian character Rolfe Harrison appeared in a couple issues with the Raiders but never joined their ranks.
References
External links
- Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders at the Comic Book DB
- 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.
