WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 3

I found a nice copy of M.A.R.S. PATROL: TOTAL WAR #10 (Gold Key comics, August 1969) at Wizard World on Friday. The cover art on this final issue is by George Wilson and I think it's great!

The series began in 1965 and was originally entitled TOTAL WAR. This lasted for two issues (with terrific art by Wally Wood) before the title was changed to M.A.R.S. PATROL: TOTAL WAR for the next eight issues. M.A.R.S. by the way, stood for Marine, Attack, Rescue and Service and each letter in that acronym corresponded to one of the four primary color-coded (red, blue, yellow and green) fighting men that starred in each issue. The four men were a racially diverse team with one member an African American, and another an Asian American. The men fought against the purple clad soldiers of an enemy force that had invaded North America.

M.A.R.S. PATROL offered realistic combat action with a futuristic science fiction flair. I was nine-years-old when I bought that first issue of TOTAL WAR. I flat out loved this series from the get go and when I found this beauty at a fair price at the convention, I had to have it. Great stuff!