Major Eazy

Been a while since we checked out Major Eazy, and I didn't have full strips to show off before, so let's have another look at Battle Picture Weekly's laziest, deadliest slacker soldier.
As played by James Coburn, Eazy belongs to that '70's filmic tradition of modern day heroes incongruously popping up in World War 2 stories.
Like Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes, Eazy is a man from 1976 transplanted into 1943, with no one batting an eye.

He's also a bit Clint Eastwood, as seen when writer Alan Hebden here rips off the barber scene from High Plains Drifter.
This was one of Carlos Ezquerra's first major British strips, and it's all wonderful stuff, already showing the chops that'd make him a fan favourite in 2000AD. Here, he's also clearly influenced by Hugo Pratt, Eazy looking not unlike a scruffier Corto Maltese.
So, James Coburn, Clint Eastwood and Corto Maltese. If you're going to come up with a new tough guy war hero, them's not bad influences to have.

Major Eazy

Major Eazy was a brilliant character who appeared in British war book Battle, from 1976 to 1978 and, as should be obvious from even a cursory glance, was played by James Coburn, making him the 2nd Bronze Age character to be based on the Hollywood legend. The other, of course, being Manhunter.
The strip was written by Alan Hebden, and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, doing his first major serial in British comics.
Eazy was a louche, laid back kinda guy who spent the war being driven around Italy in a Bentley by his long suffering sidekick Sergeant Bert Daly, waking up only to smoke, drink, or shoot Nazi's with his special sniper rifle.




Unsurprisingly, Eazy had no time whatsoever for those assholes with more stars but less sense than him, and, natch, he was the guy who got results, so whaddya gonna do? Court martial him for not getting his hair cut?



Clearly based on Coburn's equally laid back turn in The Magnificent Seven, Major Eazy also tapped into the vibe of counter-culture war movies like Kelly's Heroes and Cross Of Iron, and although supposedly British, in reality he was an American tough guy through & through.


Later on, Eazy channeled Lee Marvin as well, taking over command of a bunch of n'er do wells called The Rat Pack.


I wish I had more Eazy to put up here, but like a lot of great Brit strips, the Major's adventures have never been reprinted. So how about it, Rebellion? If a slacker like Eazy can get it together to kill Jerries, how about you?