The Losers [Hardcover]

Jack Kirby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2009

In the 1970s, Jack "King" Kirby was hard at work at DC Comics on mind-bending epics including THE NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, OMAC, and THE DEMON. At the same time, Kirby also created a series of stories that drew on his own experiences in World War II.
Starring DC war heroes including Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, Gunner and Sarge, this volume features inventive stories in which The Losers stop a German attack using a strategy found in a comic book, German and American athletes who faced each other at the 1936 Berlin Olympics meet again on the field of combat, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—During the '70s and before becoming a comic-book great, Kirby took his style and sensibilities to the DC title Our Fighting Forces. Bound in hardcover, these collected stories feature The Losers, a four-man combat team (Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, Gunner, and Sarge), sent on a variety of dangerous missions around the globe during World War II. While Kirby aficionados will appreciate the nostalgia, the action-packed plots complete with fists, bullets, or grenades flying will be the draw for newer readers. The artwork, containing images worthy of inspiring a Roy Lichtenstein painting, is structured in a traditional comic-book format, so pages of square panels abound. Though lacking slickness and gloss, and at times promoting either idealized or antiquated stereotypes, the emotional depths explored by some of the characters as well as the portrayal of war's cruelties are indicative of the masterful work Kirby would do throughout his career. As Neil Gaiman writes in his introduction, the stories are "filled with action and power and humour, and the unstoppable narrative drive of a tank." World War II buffs and ardent comic book fans will find much to love.—Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"The work presented here shows why Kirby, who died in 1994, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Will Eisner, say, or Alan Moore and Frank Miller. Future generations will come to see Kirby as an exciting myth-maker whose message was life-affirming."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics; First Edition edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401221653
• ISBN-13: 978-1401221652
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.8 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FUN - WHAT COMICS WERE MEANT TO BE!, April 10, 2009

By 

B. Ireland (Minnesota, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Losers (Hardcover)

Opening the pages of this book was like opening a childhood memory box. My memories drifting back to a family summer vacation, a 1300 mile round trip through the American Southwest. Past billboards of "the THING", "GENUINE INDIAN TRADING POST" and "the WORLDS DEEPEST MANMADE WELL" I huddled in the back of a Ford LTD with a treasure trove of Jack Kirby comics.
Some of the images in these stories never left me. The story A SMALL PLACE IN HELL is so vividly illustrated I've never forgotten it. The stories may be simple but the art is a joy at every page. This is Jack Kirby at his finest- raw action at a breathtaking pace.
Like a time traveler I've been brought back to the joy and pleasure I felt as a child turning the pages of these masterworks of action. FUN- this is what comics were meant to be!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Work, June 4, 2009

By 

N. Caputo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Losers (Hardcover)

Jack Kirby's Losers stories were sadly neglected when they first appeared in 1974. Interest was focused on superheroes and fantasy by most fans and that was a mistake. DC has finally collected Kirby's stories in a format that does them justice. This is one of those works that deserve to be reevaluated. Jack Kirby brought many of his personal experiences as a soldier during WWII, an event that informed him all his life. The images he draws are powerful, violent and effective. His writing here, which is problematic most of the time, works well, short and terse. Some of his prose borders on the poetic. This is Kirby's most personal and best solo work in my eyes, and considering his output, that's saying a lot.

Nick C.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but ..., April 20, 2009

By 

Tom Mott (Culver City, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Losers (Hardcover)

This is a fun book, but as much as I love all things by Jack Kirby, I can't give it 5-stars. It's "lesser 70s Kirby": some great stories, but some unremarkable characters. Some great inking by Mike Royer, but also some oddly flat inking by D. Bruce Barry.

From a comics history point of view, it's certainly interesting to compare these Kirby war comics to the Sgt Fury comics he had helped create at Marvel 10-12 years earlier. From what I recall, he really didn't like the unrealistic Sgt Fury stories and didn't enjoy working on that comic book.

But for sheer Jack Kirby 1970s "all-ages comics fun" I would first direct readers towards his 70s runs on Captain America and Black Panther; Devil Dinosaur; The Eternals; and OMAC. If you read all those and want more, then dive into the sprawling, crazy, loopy "Fourth World" saga (collected in 4 volumes). Then if you still need more.... by all means, get The Losers too.

The production values of this DC hardcover collection are stellar. DC's omnibus collections are more *aesthetically* satisfying that Marvel's, because they use thinner, newsprint-style paper which soaks up the colors wonderfully -- as opposed to the Marvel books which print on glossy white paper and the color sort of "sits" garishly on the page.