Our Fighting Forces #151 [1974] – Kill Me With Wagner

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Beneath a generic Joe Kubert cover that has nothing to do with the interior story is the first of twelve issues of OUR FIGHTING FORCES featuring the Losers, written and drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by D. Bruce Berry.

For his first story, Kirby places the Losers in a small town in occupied France, where they have the mission to rescue famed (but apparently never photographed) concert pianist Emma Klein, being hidden by the Maquis. The youngest Loser, Gunner, gets captured, and the others come in with the help of the Maquis. I like how the women brought in as hostages get in the fight in the middle of this page.

Our Fighting Forces #151 [1974]

Kirby does an especially good job with a sequence on the last few pages, showing the the entire town being virtually leveled by Allied shelling following the rescue. Very cinematic, with Kirby setting up Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as the soundtrack to the destruction in the previous scene (which I just realized is significantly before APOCALYPSE NOW used it in a similar vein).

Kirby also writes a text page in place of the letter column about his intent for the series, to tell the stories of “Everymen” characters caught in the landscape of war.

Published 1974

One thought on “Our Fighting Forces #151 [1974] – Kill Me With Wagner

  1. Henry R. Kujawa

    Here’s my restoration of the cover to OFF #151…
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EpkAi3GyEIc/UAnn2iGYa6I/AAAAAAAADGw/eK1LmiCUT10/s1600/OFF+151_cb_HA_HK.jpg

    It sounds like Jack Kirby took over this series at a very late notice, as A)he didn’t have time to do the cover, and B)Joe Kubert already had done one, perhaps for a story Robert Kanigher hadn’t gotten around to finishing yet (or, did it appear in a later issue after Kirby departed?).

    Mind-boggling but true: There is actually a feature film based on THE LOSERS !!! Only thing, it’s based on the Vertigo reboot, which involves a modern-day “special forces” unit.

    Reply

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