Review: The Serial Squad

I was at the Sandusky Art Walk (a local art-in-the-park type event) this summer and someone was looking at some sketches I had done of the Serial Squad.  As I was trying to explain the concept to him he asked “So it’s stuff like Captain Crunch?”  I had no idea where he had gotten that idea.  Then, a few hours later, it hit me!

Anyway, the Serial Squad is an excellent independent comic created by Paul Schultz, and is another comic I picked up at a recent convention.  Actually, I filled up my Serial Squad collection this year, as I had some issues from previous encounters with Paul.  Obviously, if I’m picking up more I like the book.  I’d say it’s my favorite independent super-group book.  And there’s a good reason why.

You ever read something, or even see a movie or TV show and think: What a great idea!  Why didn’t I think of that?!  That’s the Serial Squad to me.  The Serial Squad takes place in the 1940’s during World War II.  The US government has put together a group of costumed heroes to instill hope in America and defeat the Nazis (the most evil group of villains in history!).  The costumed heroes consist of actors who play costumed heroes in movie serials.  If you didn’t know, a movie serial is a story broken down into short episodes that was popular in the early days of Hollywood, including during WWII.  New episodes of a serial were usually shown every week in the local theater before the “main feature”.   Many of these serial involved heroic characters in action-oriented tales and some involved costumes.  Anyway, the government puts together a group of these Hollywood guys and sends them into real action using the abilities they’ve honed while doing their own stunts in the movies.  This leads to lots of high adventure in the classic Hollywood style and encounters with Nazi scientists and other weirdness that turns out to be more than just Hollywood special effects!  The story is gripping and I’ll warn you not to get too attached to any one character…they don’t all have happy endings!

As I noted above I have some Serial Squad sketches in my sketch book.  This Is because I am working on drawing a serial squad story, written by Paul.  I won’t say more about that here however.  You’ll have to check back here at another time.  First, you should go to Paul’s Site or his blog and order some Serial Squad comics!  You do support the allies cause, right?