Major Eazy: WWII Hero for the Brits
Major Eazy is a not a character we’ve ever encountered before, but no one here at Under the Radar grew up in the UK during the ‘70s getting a comics fix from a low-budget magazine called Battle Pictures Weekly. Titan Books has set out to change all that with Major Eazy: Heart of Iron (Volume 1), a deluxe hardcover edition that compiles the story from its beginning.
Eazy looks a lot like James Coburn and brings his own car and weapons to the British invasion of Italy in 1943. The Italians are sort of beneath contempt; Eazy saves his sharpest barbs for the British brass, the Nazis and especially the Yanks.
The stories are pegged to events during the actual invasion but Eazy’s constant flouting of orders seems designed to appeal to 8-year-old boys with authority issues more than it does to create any kind of iconic military hero. Writer Alan Hedben claims that the character was inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name character in the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, but Eazy seems more like the kind of loose cannon that might have inspired Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs character in the Lethal Weapon movies. In any case, Eazy seems incredibly American (0r at least Hollywood) for a British officer. Eazy was drawn by artist Carlos Ezquerra, revered by comic nerds as the original creator of Judge Dredd.
Titan has done a great job of restoring the images for this book. They were originally printed on incredibly cheap paper that allowed images to bleed through the page and the new edition makes the series look better than it ever has before.
If you’re sensitive about how we had to bail out the Brits in WWII, you’re not going to like Eazy one bit. If you’ve got a more worldly perspective, it’s fascinating to see how one of our closest Allies creates its own WWII mythology.
Click on the image to launch the slideshow. If it looks too small to read, click on the box on the upper right corner of the image and you’ll get a version large enough to see the detail. You might have to click that box on each slide to zoom in each time. Yeah, we’re looking into that.
![Der Gro?mufti von Jerusalem [Amin al Husseini] bei den bosnischen Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS. Der Gro?mufti ist auf dem Truppenubungsplatz ein[getroffen] und schreitet die Front der angetretenen Freiwilligen mit erhobenem Arm ab.](http://images-undertheradar.military.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/nazicollaborators300.jpg)
Under the Radar is commentary. We don’t report the news; we offer our take on what happened.
22 Comments
WWII comics were very popular in the UK when I was a kid in the 1970s and early 1980s.
However in the ones I read there were NEVER any bad comments about the Americans.
And yes, the US did bail us out, but I hope that Americans remember that we were the only European country to hold out against the Nazis and that our lone stand from 1940 — 41 saved you guys a lot of lives and cost that you would have had if we had folded.
We whipped your Buts in 2 Wars and saved your ***** in 2 other. Yes we’re allies in the Middle East but, are you going to our aid our sit it out if we’re in trouble (Reference Movie “Red Dawn”).
******@***.***
@ Danny J Moron-o
As CDS said below, there are those who are too blind / ignorant to bother trying to educate them over the internet.
By the way, us Brits standing up to Hitler alone for 18 months and betting our lives and every last cent on death or victory — that took real cojones.
You lot finally deciding to join in after the war had already been going on for over 2 years and Russia was already soaking up the bulk of Hitlers forces, that didn’t take cojones of the same magnitude.
@ charles,
indeed some of us do remember that you brits did stand your ground, and held it, though quoting general wellington in an earlier war “it was a dammed near run thing.” my father (now deceased) was a u.s. merchant service officer, sailing on convoys to supply you, he had nothing but praise for britian and its people.
God bless the US! No Brit with a brain will ever forget what the US did for us.
1939-8th dec 1941
@ Wangeye
Well, from 1939 — June 1940 we also had France with us against the Germans, which is why I only mentioned our lone stand from 1940 to 1941.
It was good for the US that Britain held out. If we had given in to the Germans they might have got our fleet (still the largest in the world in 1940 I believe) and control of our empire. That would have put the US in a very difficult situation when Japan attacked. Germany would have had the naval power to potentially strangle access to the US from the Atlantic coast, and even to attack US coastal targets.
I also hope that US readers know about the British efforts in the Far East, for example in Burma where we were a key part of the forces which inflicted the largest defeat of a Japanese land army.
I find that the ones worth your time usually do appreciate the UK, the other Allies, and their contributions. (They’re also the ones who, when you ask when the war started, will at LEAST mention the year 1939.)
Those who are adamant that the US won the war (or could have) on its own are usually either completely lost causes or too blind/ignorant to educate over the internet.
Major Eazy, I’ll have to check it out. Any Brits reading this, can you send some Jelly Babies my way, Will pay in USD.
******@***.***.
Can any Brits out there hook me up with some Jelly Babies? The Tardis is out. Email me at ******@***.***. Will pay in USD.
Thanks!
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Charles, I don’t appreciate the Moron-o. You forget who fed your ***** with convoy’s for those 2 year’s.
No more Negative Waves ******
******@***.***
Some Brits do tend to get a ‘red mist’ moment when on the receiving end of a ‘we whipped your **** and save your ****’ rant from an American.
We all need allies, even the US. We should concentrate on being good allies, not engaging in rants like that.
Charles,
I guess the truth does cause your Head to explode.
Hence “The Red Mist”. I’m not ranting by the way. No Jelly Babies anybody?
******@***.***
The ‘truth’ causes my head to explode?
You mean the ‘truth’ that the US won the war single handed, the ‘truth’ that we get from Hollywood and which you seem to have based your WWII history on?
Here’s some truth for you. If we hadn’t held out in 40/41 the US might have lost the war.
We owe you and you owe us.
And if your original comment wasn’t a rant then what the **** was it?
I never said that The United States of America won the war by it’s self! As for us owing you, We Owe You Nothing! I watch the Military Channel and before you can say it, No I don’t believe everything I watch or read. But it’s funny that most of the narrators have a British accent. What country sent you food and weapons from 1939–41? Lend-Lease? Who’s Bombers Killed more civilians at night? Bomber Harris was a murderer.
Look, all I want is some Jelly Babies. Is that too much to ask?
My favorite Dr’s were Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. Truce?
let’s not be putting down “tommy atkins” he’s a good man, with his lee-enfield rifle, to have on your side in a tight place.
Captain Easy was a laconic tough guy, solider of fortune and “American Swashbuckler” from the South who started out as the side-kick of comic, little fellow out for adventure, Washington “Wash” Tubbs, but soon took over the strip as it turned into one of the first all adventure newspaper strips.
During WWII, Easy was in the Army Secret Service I believe. Has he made Major?
Mr. Morano Lend lease did not start till 1942, 2 years after the battle of Britain was won, ie, we had already saved ourselves. Cash and Carry was in place before that, we bought basics, with gold reserves and territory. It bankrupted us, at the same time as American industry was selling equipment to Nazi Germany.
In WW1 by the time the US started to take an active part in the war (last 6 months), the German Army had exhausted itself, Finally being defeated by the British planned ‘Battle of Amiens’.
In conclusion you did not save us in anyway. The timelines do not fit. That you aided us in a materiel sense is indisputable, but the danger of Invasion in WW2 had passed by the time the US actually started fighting, 1942.
WW1 was virtually done by the time you joined.
The result of the Revolutionary war is also not in dispute, but only a handful of Americans believe 1812 was a victory. The war acheived none of the aims of the US, and resulted in the burning of your capital and the fleeing of your government,and the capitulation to the Crown of the entire state of Maine. At best, it was a draw, and the US is fortunate that the best British troops were fighting Napolean.
And then British troops fresh from whooping Napolean got wasted in the Battle of New Orleans by a rag-tag bunch of Americans; it was definitely a toss-up.
And in true American fashion i will make you pay double for some pre sucked Jelly Babies, and you give me a portion of your yard, then make a film about how i saved you from starvation.
;)
I am amazed at how childish and nasty some of these comments are.
Why are you all indulging in such silly and ignorant rants at each other?
It is pointless and you all demonstrate a marked ignorance of history.