Strike didn't exist; Dixon fabricated a metafictional backstory claiming the character had started out in a strip printed on the back of boxes of cereal before graduating to a pack-in title called All Thrill Comics.

At the same time Truman was exploring a similar idea in another 4Winds/Eclipse title, The Prowler, though that made no secret of the WWII era character being a modern creation.

[3] The latter were actually scripted by Dixon and featured a variety of artists mimicking a Golden Age style; despite being parodic to the point of being poor these were popular with readers.

How successful the ploy was is unknown; Amazing Heroes noted that the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide had no record of the character,[1] and included quotation marks around the word "reprints" in a preview of the series.

[9][10] Dixon stated he and Lyle (who was planning to take over as writer) had multiple future arcs plotted and hoped Total Eclipse would generate more interest in the property.

Dennis Forman, a young African-American living in a slum, discovers missing World War II superhero Sgt.

The hero, the archetypical poor but bright high school student, is written with realistic human motivations, making us very sympathetic to his cause, beating the tar out of bad guys.

"[14] Conversely W. David Hall slated the title for Amazing Heroes, heavily criticising the second issue's stereotypical characters and bemoaning the "sheer stupidity of some of the situations".

vs. Sgt Strike Special he noted the series had been "consistently intelligent", and credited Lyle's improving art.