Buz Sawyer: The War in the Pacific (Vol. 1)  (Roy Crane's Buz Sawyer)
One of the most influential early newspaper comics pioneers, Crane wrote and drewWash Tubbs,one of the first adventure strips, for nearly 20 years. In 1943 he leftWashto createBuz Sawyer,about a World War II navy fighter pilot in the Pacific theater. In the first two years' worth of the black-and-white daily episodes, Buz and his comic-relief sidekick, gunner Roscoe Sweeney, are shot down on a Japanese-occupied island. In another sequence, Buz flies a captured Japanese torpedo-bomber on a special mission to enemy territory. The strips are stronger on action than characterization. Buz's most prominent personality trait, other than eagerness to fly heedlessly into danger to fight for his country, is his irresistibility to the ladies; no matter where his missions take him, he finds a gorgeous dame he can charm into helping him. Despite its simplicities and pervasive anti-Japanese racism, the six--decade-old strips remain entertaining, thanks to Crane's storytelling verve and his clean, compelling cartooning style, which he enhanced with his signature double-tone shading techniques.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.