Leatherneck Raiders

Leatherneck Raiders
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders #1 (Jan. 1968)
Created by	Gary Friedrich Dick Ayers
In-story information
Type of organization	Marine unit

The Leatherneck Raiders are a fictional World War II unit appearing in American 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.

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 – 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.

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.

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