MAULERS

Membership: "Rickets" Johnson, Private Jones, Man-Mountain McCoy, "Bull" McGiveney
Captain Samuel Sawyer (commanding officer)
possibly Lon Wilcox

Purpose: Second Attack Squad (rangers) of Able Company during World War II

Affiliations: Captain Flint, Samuel Goldstein, Howling Commandos, Jim Morita, Cliff Powers

Enemies: Agent of 1,000 Faces, Blitzkrieg Squad, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler, Colonel Klaue, Steve Rogers, Hans von Reichardt

Base of Operations: Able Company base, England

First Appearance: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#7 (May, 1964)

History: (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#7) - When Sgt. Fury was court martialed for striking a superior officer, McGiveney started badmouthing Fury, claiming he would finally get what was coming to him. When the Howling Commandos heard, they attacked McGiveney and the Maulers and put them in the hospital. They were temporarily sent to the guard house as a result. McGiveney's injuries prevented him from testifying against Fury at the court martial.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#11) - When Captain Sawyer was placed on detached service for two weeks, Captain Flint took his place. Flint summoned all of the attack squads for inspection. Flint was a by-the-book officer, and was annoyed when he arrived that the Howling Commandos were absent. McGiveney went to get them from the training field, but tricked them into thinking Flint was laid back, which led to immediate friction between Flint and the Howlers.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#13) - McGiveney and the Maulers discussed whether Captain America was in England, but Bull claimed that they didn't him as long as he was around. He then picked a fight with a rookie, Steve Rogers, unaware that Rogers was really Captain America. Rogers let McGiveney beat him, but Sgt. Fury and the Howlers came to Steve's aid and beat up Bull and the Maulers.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#20) - When McGiveney was informed by Sawyer that the Blitzkrieg Squad were holding hostages in Kerrydale Castle, Scotland, he volunteered the Maulers to rescue them, but Sawyer gave the assignment to Fury and the Howling Commandos. When McGiveney asked why Fury kept getting the best assignments, Sawyer responded sharply that Fury was the better sergeant. Afterwards, McGiveney and the Maulers cornered Fury to rough him up, but McGiveney backed off at the last moment, thinking that Fury would get him into trouble.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#21) - McGiveney and the Maulers started another fight with the Howlers, but it was called off when the Howlers were sent on another assignment. Upon their return, they immediately resumed fighting the Maulers.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#22) - The Maulers were sent on a mission to Romania alongside the Howlers to take out flak guns so that the air force could launch a strike on the Ploesti oil fields. During the mission, Fury and McGiveney were in constant rivalry, and some Nazis who captured them tried to use it to make them fight each other, but the duo outsmarted and defeated the Nazis. The Maulers succeeded in their mission, and returned to Able Company base, where they promptly returned to sparring with the Howlers.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#27 - BTS) - The Maulers were sent to Germany to destroy the light weapon of Dr. Draus, but they found no trace of the device's plans.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#32) - The Maulers were given a mission ahead of the Howlers for once, as the Howlers all had to take their physicals. McGiveney took the opportunity to gloat.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#33) - When McGiveney insulted Fury in front of the Howling Commandos, he and the Maulers wound up in another fight with the Howlers, and Captain Sawyer had to break them up and demand that they learn how to cooperate.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#35) - Bull and "Rickets" of the Maulers were assigned to join Fury and former Nazi Eric Koenig on a mission to Berlin to rescue the other Howling Commandos. Bull and Rickets were reluctant to work with Koenig because he had been a Nazi, and Bull even got into a fight with him, but Eric remained honest in his desire to defect. Eric flew them to Germany in a plane, and they met up with his sister Ilsa to help steal into Berlin. The rescuers were able to free all of the Howlers and return to England, by which time Eric, Ricekts and Bull had become fast friends.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#46) - McGiveney and Johnson sabotaged a munitions factory in France, but Nazi troops overwhelmed them, and they were both wounded. Eric Koenig came to their rescue in a plane, but the Nazis shot him down. He got the Maulers to a farmhouse and radioed aid. The rest of the Howling Commandos came with a plane, and medic Cliff Powers. Powers saw to McGiveney's injuries, and risked his own life to retrieve his lost medical kit so that McGiveney could get the morphine he needed. Powers was wounded himself, and wound up in a bed next to McGiveney in a hospital in England. Knowing that Powers had wanted to be a soldier, he offered him a place in the Maulers, but Powers declined, now proud to be a medic.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#48) - When Able Company base was invaded by Colonel Klaue, the Blitzkrieg Squad and supplementary Nazi forces, McGiveney led the Maulers alongside the Howling Commandos and Jim Morita's Nisei Squadron to defeat them.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#67) - The Maulers were assigned to help rescue Fury from Germany after he had been captured by a turncoat Eric Koenig. The Maulers were aided by Samuel Goldstein and his fellow members of the German underground, including Coral Liebowitz, secretly Koenig's lover. When McGiveney caught up to Fury and Koenig, he was unaware that Koenig was a traitor, and Eric managed to escape them both with Coral's aid. Fury and the Maulers returned to England.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#83 (fb) - BTS) - A Mauler named Private Jones was wounded, and forced out of action.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#83) - A month later the Maulers were assigned the former wrestler "Man-Mountain" McCoy. Bull intended for McCoy to join the base's wrestling competition, and defeat the Howlers' "Dum-Dum" Dugan in the ring. As they built up to the match, the Maulers and Howlers wound up in a barfight, and Bull and Fury assumed the responsibility so that McCoy and Dugan would still be able to wrestle.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#84) - Captain Sawyer gave Fury and McGiveney a break from manual labour when he learned that McCoy and Dugan were being held prisoner by the Agent of 1,000 Faces. Bull refused to cooperate in a rescue effort and attacked the Nazis' base with the Maulers, only to be quickly captured. Fortunately, Dugan and McCoy broke free, and the Howling Commandos arrived, allowing a quick mop-up. Afterward, Dugan and McCoy refused to hold their scheduled match, as they had become good friends, much to Bull's chagrin.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual#4) <1944, December 16> - McGiveney and the Maulers got into another barroom brawl with the Howling Commandos, and they all spent another night in the guardhouse.

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#116 - BTS) - Lon Wilcox, a newly-trained recruit put through the basics of commando missions by Sgt. Fury was told to go join the Maulers by Fury (presumably Fury did not mean it as an insult).

(Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#117) - Bull and one of his Maulers gave Fury a quick verbal jab as he was on his way to a meeting with Captain Sawyer.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and George Roussos.

The Maulers were sometimes called "Marauders." In one instance, they were called both names in a single issue (Sgt. Fury#27)!

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Maulers should not be confused with:

• The Mauler, Aaron Soames, armor-wielding villain, @ Daredevil I#167
• The Mauler, Brendan Doyle, successor, @ Iron Man I#156