Peerless Power of Comics!

“I had the privilege of doing “The Losers” for DC, a war story, and I put some real elements in there, some elements that I’d experienced, and of course that facilitated the realism for the story, which made it acceptable. It wasn’t a fantasy war story. It was the “Real McCoy.”   But the characters had color, and they had a reason for being there. It was their story but their surroundings were real, and they were accepted by the reader.”      Jack Kirby interview conducted by James Van Hise, The Golden Age of Comics # 6, November 1983. Jack Kirby’s “The Losers”, originally appearing in the title series Our Fighting Forces, rated little attention in their original presentation, but it is one of the artists’ unsung classics. Though war comics were still a part of DC’s lineup in 1974, they were often ignored by the majority of comics’ fans, whose interests fixated primarily on the latest superhero fantasies. Even a monolithic creator like Jack Kirby could not engender excitement, but the

There are plenty of twists and turns on the road of comic books and their history, many of which are both unusual and fascinating. For instance take Maurice Bramley, a name I suspect few recognize. His involvement drawing Marvel characters is largely unknown because he worked for an Australian company, Horwitz, in the 1950s and 1960s, pencilling many covers based on the originals by artists like John Severin and Jack Kirby. Horvitz reprinted stories of Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid and Apache Kid, as well as war and superhero stories, and reprinted other companies work as well. For a more detailed history of Howvitz, accompanied by examples of many Bramley covers, please go to this wonderful site:           http://www.ausreprints.com/content/?skin=14685 While Bramley was often reworking the original covers, unlike artists that copy the styles of those artists, he brings a personality of his own to the artwork. Bramley's work has a distinct charm and he reinterpets m