You never know what you are going to find in a DC war book, and "Death Stop" written and drawn by Russ Heath is a real treat. New recruits Mac and Rickey are pinned down in a trench with the rest of Easy Company by a Nazi machine gun nest. Rickey is so scared that he contemplates shooting Sgt. Rock when he tells the men to reload and prepare to attack.
Snapping out of it, Rickey remembers how all through his childhood he has been afraid, of gangs, graveyards at night, heights, diving and dogs, running many times to the comfort of his mother. He is shaken from his reverie when Rock orders him and Mac to flank the nest from the left while Rock and the rest of Easy attack from the right. He confides his fear to Mac who says he is terrified too, but that they will get through it together. Rock gives the attack order and Rickey leaps out of the trench only to find he is alone, that Mac is still in the trench.
Just then, Rickey is hit by machine gun fire and calls back for Mac to help him, but Mac does not move. Seeing that Mac is too yellow to do the job, Rickey slowly crawls towards the machine gun nest, vowing to settle with the cowardly Mac when this is over. Jumping into the nest Rickey single-handedly kills all the Nazis, then begins to stagger back to deal with Mac. But suddenly, Mac is shot in the back from another nest, falling once again to the dusty ground. He slowly begins to drawl towards Mac who is still in the trench aiming his gun at Rickey, Rickey begs Mac once again to help him, telling him that if he does not, that Rickey will kill Mac when he gets to him. Inch by inch he moves toward Mac, goading him, saying "You are what I been running away from all my life...guys like you Mac. Now...I'm goin'...to...get...you."
When Rock and the rest of Easy show up, having taken the other nest, they find Rickey dead, inches from the frozen Mac. When Rock shakes Mac, asking why he did not help Rickey, Mac falls over dead, having been hit by the first shot from the nest and how if it had not been for Rickey wanting to pay Mac back for not helping they would probably all be dead by now.
We end with "Up, Up and AWA-A-AY" drawn by Fred Ray. It is the Civil War and misfit Union soldier Lt. Walker is ordered for fly a tethered hot-air balloon equipped with cameras and telegraph over Confederate lines. But Walker is afraid of heights and gets motion sickness. Walker gets orders over the telegraph from the general, but does not know Morse Code. Rebel shells cut the tether and Walker is loose over Confederate land. A sniper puts a hole in his balloon and he crashes on a farm, where he steals a dress off a clothes line and uses it to patch his balloon. Walker gets back in the air, but his balloon is shot again. However he manages to take some pictures as he once again suffers from motion sickness and crashes into a tree near Union lines.
He is rescued but when they look at his pictures of the Confederate positions, all he got were pictures of cooking pots. Walker is yelled at for being incompetent till someone notices that their are enough pots to feed an entire division. They realize that Confederate troops must be massed and hiding in the forest and they call off the planned attack. For saving their lives Walker is rewarded by being made commander of the balloon squadron.
Edited by Joe Kubert.
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