The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales #1

In "Conquest," Captain Juan Alvarado leads his men on a brutal campaign across the Americas, driven by orders from the Spanish government to subjugate native inhabitants and seize their gold. As Alvarado and his forces march through the land, their violence sparks resistance from the people they seek to dominate, setting the stage for a clash of empires and ideologies.

In "Hong Kong Intrigue!", Gregg King and Carol Stanton team up after a tense encounter with a Chinese thug, setting off on a dangerous hunt through the streets of Hong Kong. With Carol’s father gone and a secret buried in a place only he knew, the pair must piece together clues before the rebels’ foreign backers silence them for good.

In the heat of the Canal Zone, Clay Hill reunites with his old comrade "Bullet" Hunter, only to find him now flying for General Bovar’s revolution. As the two pilots take to the skies, they soon realize the deadly truth: they’re on opposite sides of a war that’s about to tear them apart.

Captain Steve Cutter finds himself set adrift by his own crew, only to return and confront the men who betrayed him—Hawkins and the ruthless Hook, along with his henchmen Skeever and Krank. With the diamonds missing and a bag of flour left behind, the true game of deception begins.

In "War Story!", a young soldier grapples with the weight of his first kill—only to learn it was a ghost, a moment that haunts him more than the battlefield. His sergeant shares a harrowing flashback from World War 2, where two brothers, Duke and Dave Hunzer, found themselves on opposite sides of a brutal conflict, their lives entangled with Colonel Hishomura and the North Koreran soldiers. The story unfolds with quiet intensity, exploring the cost of war and the blurred lines between enemy and brother.

In "Jivaro Death!", Slick Charlie and his partner Smitty steal a fortune in uncut diamonds from a messenger and his bodyguard, then flee through the perilous Jivaro territory to stay ahead of the law—only to find themselves facing a threat far deadlier than the police. With the Jivaros known for their brutal traditions, the con men’s plan to escape justice quickly turns into a fight for survival.

When an American intelligence agent is shot down behind enemy lines, he must race against time to extract a scientist whose invention could shift the balance of power—only to find the man dead and his daughter, Lisa, now the target of relentless East German pursuit. With the help of a hidden underground agent, Captain Turner fights to get Lisa to safety, but the danger is closing in from every direction.

In the early 1700s, a reluctant sailor named Jeremiah Pringle is dragged into the Royal Navy by a press gang and forced aboard the H.M.S. Confidence, where he must endure the brutal rule of Captain Bull and his merciless crew, including the unnamed Bosun and the cruel Donklin.

In "Massacred!", an American-South Korean patrol stumbles upon a chilling scene: a group of South Korean soldiers, hands bound with their own shoelaces, executed in cold blood. The sole survivor, a wounded soldier, recounts how a North Korean officer ordered the massacre, then dressed the dead in stolen uniforms—only for the impostors to be mistaken for Americans by another North Korean unit and slaughtered in turn. The horror unfolds in stark, unflinching detail, revealing how deception and war's brutal logic can turn allies into victims.

In the chaos of the D-Day invasion, Private Albert "Duck-Butt" Smith—dismissed as a coward by his sergeant—finds himself thrust into a desperate fight to hold a critical bridge, his courage tested as the weight of war bears down. As the battle rages and the enemy advances, the line between fear and valor blurs in a moment that will define both men, even as the cost of survival grows ever steeper.

In a stark tale of consequence and fate, a Western outlaw’s deadly choice sets off a chain of violence that echoes through the frontier. As a single-action revolver passes from hand to hand—claimed by gamblers, a peon, and a vengeful brother—the weight of its remaining bullets grows heavier with each life lost. When the gun returns to Rufe, the final bullet becomes both his reckoning and his escape.

In "Pirate Gold!", two seamen pull a man from the waves—his mind blank, his past lost, but his heart set on a single truth: a long-dead shipmate named Thomas Tew holds the key to a chest of Spanish doubloons. As the man clings to fragments of a forgotten voyage, the crew of the *Pandora* begins to unravel, each face a ghost from a darker chapter of the sea.

In the tense, relentless push of war, a lone U.S. soldier—Lucky—clings to a fragile hope, believing his lucky kewpie doll is his shield. When the North Koreans close in, the unit is overrun, and only Lucky survives, stunned by the irony that his so-called luck may have been a cruel twist of fate. Now, alone and haunted by the silence of his fallen comrades, he must confront the truth behind the doll—and the helmet he’s wearing.

In the crumbling heart of the Roman Empire, Commander Decius faces a reckoning after refusing mercy to a dying slave, a moment that echoes through the coming storm. As the Vandals led by King Genseric close in, Decius must confront the cost of his cruelty—his own life now hanging in the balance.

In the harrowing winter of the Murmansk Run, the crew of the *Bunker Hill* battles more than just the icy North Atlantic—each man carries his own burden, from Bragg’s constant complaints to the quiet dread of the ship’s Captain. When a moment of carelessness lights up the dark, the fragile hope of survival is shattered in an instant.

In the grim shadows of the Italian Campaign, Joe Angliosani, an American-born soldier with Italian roots, hunts for his missing brother Mario through the ruins of Anzio. Haunted by the past and driven by a brother’s unfulfilled dream, Joe moves through the war-torn landscape—unaware that fate has already whispered his brother’s name, even as the Nazis close in.

In the midst of a brutal frontline clash, an American patrol faces a sudden ambush from Communist forces, turning a routine mission into a desperate fight for survival. When a young soldier falls ill with acute appendicitis during a brief lull, the medic must perform a risky surgery under fire, guided only by a distant doctor’s voice over the radio. As the battle rages and mortar fire rains down, the fragile hope of rescue arrives—but not in time to save the wounded soldier.

In the grim shadow of Agincourt, French commander Edouard Rene de Gascony faces a desperate stand against the advancing British, refusing to wait for reinforcements even as warnings mount. With King Henry poised to strike, the clash of steel and fate unfolds in a brutal, relentless sweep across the battlefield.

In "Chicken!" from The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales #1 (2015), Lieutenant Robert Hall finds himself caught between duty and defiance as his superior, Captain Harold Black, makes a reckless decision that costs his entire squad their lives. Ordered to lead another mission into the same deadly zone—knowing the Marines will shell the area soon—Hall must confront Black’s arrogance, even as the captain refuses to listen, leading to a moment that will echo long after the bullets stop.

In "Death Stand!", Joe Hill and his fellow soldiers race to save a downed pilot, only to find themselves ambushed by an enemy tank that destroys their jeep and kills several of their comrades. With the rescued pilot safe in the last working vehicle, Joe stays behind with a bag of grenades, ready to face the advancing enemy alone.

In the final days of the war, a grizzled veteran named Pappy Davidson tries to pass on hard-earned lessons to a group of young American replacements, each of whom faces the brutal reality of combat in ways that cost them their lives. Only one, Caruso, begins to grasp the truth of survival—until the war ends and he rushes to share the news, only to find Pappy has fallen in the last battle.

In "Dog Fight!" from The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales #1, USMC Captain Jacob Strange takes to the skies with a heart heavy from loss, his focus on the enemy dulled by grief over the letters he believes he’s lost forever. As fog blankets the airfield and his radio falls silent, Strange pushes on into the storm, unaware that a sack of mail from Katherine still waits for him—his only hope a fading signal in the static.