Our Fighting Forces #126

Our Fighting Forces #126 (On Sale: May 7, 1970) has a nice dramatic cover by Joe Kubert featuring The Losers.

We begin with The Losers in "A Lost Town" by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. They seem to have decided by now that the team will not be called the Born Losers, as referenced in previous issues, maybe so it will not be confused with the movie of the same name which introduced the world to Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack or the daily comic strip which also shares that name. The story begins with the Losers being brought before a court-martial as deserters. The team, each of which must think of themselves using the word "loser" in at least one panel, think back to how they were bringing ammo to French fighters, when a German bomb kills all the French fighters and the Losers must attempt to hold the town of Perdu (Lost in English) on their own.

They run into a group of blind children being led by a blind old man. As bombing of the town begins, the hustle the blind into a basement and take on the Nazis. This was written back in the charming days of my youth, when Americans hated Nazis. When a tank rolls into town, the Losers lead it away from the hidden blind civilians where they are able to take out the tank. The danger over, the Losers say goodbye to their blind friends and head back to base where they are arrested for desertion. They explain about the blind folks, but when they go back to pick up their alibi, they are gone. The Losers are then put before the court-martial.  As the trial begins the blind people show up and are able to recognize the Losers by feeling their faces. Wow, Kanigher was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one.

Next is the U.S.S. Stevens in "1-2-3" by Sam Glanzman.

That is followed by a one-page Warrior by Ken Barr featuring Attila the Hun, the one-page "So you want to be a Cartoonist?" by Joe Kubert, and a page of gags, called "Military Manners" by Pete Costanza.

We end with "The Fall of Constantinople," a Great Battles of History written by Raymond Marais and drawn by Ric Estrada. The story recounts the fall of Constantinople to the Turkish army of Sultan Mahomet II.

Edited by Joe Kubert.