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Love Confessions #39, 1954 - Matt Baker was among the best romance artists of the 1950s, mostly known for his work on St. John titles. His stories for other publications are fewer, less well known and vary widely in quality. In this case, his opening scene lacks the usual zest of larger romance panels. I do like how the idyllic couple in the background contrasts against the troubled relationship

A Jack Kirby Losers story in Our Fighting Forces 159 (Sept 1975) features a one-off appearance of Mile-a-Minute Jones, an African American soldier. Kirby appears to have played on Bob Kanigher's idea of making Jackie Johnson a world heavyweight boxing champ like the real life Joe Louis from the mid-20th century, by modeling his character on Jesse Owens, the Olympic champion athlete who won golds at the 1936 Games in front of Adolf Hitler, much to the Fuhrer's annoyance.


The story begins with a group of Nazis coming across an American truck that's been blown up. They check for survivors, anticipating there to be none, but the reckoned wrong. Henry Jones, star track athlete, makes his break for freedom, eluding all of his would-be executioners save one, who also shares his fleet-footedness. Turns out this mercurial Nazi is none other than Henry's old opponent in the Olympic Games, Bruno Borman. Also like Kanigher's Easy Co. story, in which Jackie Johnson slugs it out on the battlefield with his old opponent from the boxing world, here two more old sporting opponents meet in battle in WWII.


Bruno's link with Henry is that strong that he plans to make sure the other Nazis don't kill him. Whether he would have succeeded or not, we'll never know, because it's at this point that The Losers intervene, rescue Jones, and capture Borman, who happens to be holding the map his comrades need for their mission.


The Losers have a plan to capture the Nazi general, and they succeed. The other Nazi soldiers are left imprisoned, while The Losers seek to escape the area with their more valuable prize. Those Nazi troops escape, however, and the speedy Bruno catches up with The Losers and sprints across an open field to tip off the German paratroop patrol he spots in the distance.


As the only one fast enough to have a chance of catching Borman, Jones sets off in pursuit.


Jones relives the experience of being out on the track against Bruno. Just as in the 1936 Olympics, Jones again feels the urgency of undermining the Nazi claim of white racial superiority by running faster than Borman. He gains on Borman, but it reaches the point where he has to make his move if he's going to stop him in time. He leaps, but falls short. The paratroopers are alerted.


As the Nazi paratroopers turn in pursuit of The Losers, they get a deadly surprise - somehow Bruno and Henry had sprinted across a minefield unharmed, but the paratroopers are not so fortunate.


The engineer's tape that had marked the only safe route across the field had also acted as a kind of lane marker for Henry as he ran.


The Losers' ride out of this danger zone arrives. But despite escaping, Henry feels sadness due to the loss of his competitor, who lies dead on the battlefield. There will be no more contests on the track between Mile-a-Minute Jones and Bruno Borman.


The story, written by Jack Kirby, as students of Kirby's work will know, lacks that dimension Stan Lee gave to their collaborations. Nevertheless, this one is quite readable compared to some of his Fourth World material, which gets so convoluted that it often ceases to make sense. This tale is straightforward, and makes a simple point. Along the way we've seen the Nazi assumption of racial superiority again exposed. Although little was made of it at the beginning of the story, the American truck that had been blown up was manned by an African American segregated supply unit, by the looks of it, again bringing into the picture the paradox of segregated America fighting to defeat Nazi racists in an anti-racist war.

Mister Miracle #8, 1972 - The last of the 52 pagers in this series, Jack Kirby's art continues to entertain and delight. His two full page splashes and roomy panels are this time overshadowed by one of his best double page spreads. Upon entering the barracks of the Female Fury Battalion, Big Barda witnesses a chaotic array of woman warriors. Kirby's complex layout is perfectly balanced with a

Without doubt the pre-eminent UK exponent of seedy, exquisitely lit pulp style artwork. No one else comes close to Denis McLoughlin's inventiveness and ability to create book covers for detective fiction that hits you between the eyes.

All his work was great but his "noire fiction" covers (imo) were by far the best of an already impressive body of work that this wonderful and modest artist created over a sixty year career.

Use the search box to check out earlier postings for more of his artistry.

From Ed Luce about the upcoming Henry and Glenn art show this Friday:

We're very excited to announce the opening of the Henry & Glenn Forever Gang Bang group exhibition at the legendary La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, California!   The Igloo TornadoEd Luce, Dave Davenport, Justin Hall, Johnny Ryan, KAZ and Coop!) to explore and expand their take on the hard rock love that dare not speak its name. 

For those not familiar, the original Henry & Glenn Forever book asks the question, “what if Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig were a little more than 'friends'?"  It has sold more than 30,000 copies since its debut last spring, garnering nods from guys (Tom Neely, Gin Stevens, Scot Nobles & Levon Jihanian) have invited two dozen artists (including Spin, National Public Radio, MTV, LA Weekly, Decibel, Maximum Rock’n’roll and Razorcake.  The book is still available at http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/3174

The reception is Friday, February 18th from 8 - 11pm and features a signing with Igloo Tornado and performances by the faBUlous BLACK FAG (seriously, they're rad) and Danzig cover band GLENN!!!  The show itself will run February 18th - 27th.

Ed will be on hand for the exhibition's opening reception...so long lost LA peeps, please stop by and say howdy! 

For more info visit: http://www.laluzdejesus.com/shows/2011/Events/Henry_and_Glenn_Forever/Henry-and-Glenn-4Eva.htm

Jason Shiga (author of Bookhunter, Fleep, Meanwhile and Empire State) and Aaron Reiner (author of the Unsinkable Walker Bean, Spiral Bound, and Papercutter contributor)  will be at Reading Frenzy this Saturday February 19th at 7pm. You should check it out.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/event-46447-aaron_renier_and_jason_shiga.html

Ka-zar #4, 1974 - Ka-Zar had appeared in various Marvel titles since his debut in X-men #10. After a respectable run in Astonishing Tales a few years before, the character was awarded his own self-titled book. Frank Brunner delivers this superb cover, among the best of the entire series. Mystical flames emanate from below the jungle lord, radiating out toward the other figures and filling the