Moustache Monday!

Is there enough room in one war for two moustaches? Who wins? Which one will prevail?

Does age and experience and what may appear to be a devil may care attitude to grooming win out over youth and the slick - this takes me no time to keep it this tidy look?

Is it be damned  - or hot damn I make this look good?

So many questions...this is what happens when two moustaches meet.

War comics and the Fallen Soldier Battle Cross

The Laboratoire d'Histoire Visuelle Contemporaine has completed a preliminary paper on War comics and the Fallen Soldier Battle Cross .

The article is in French but don't let that put you off. If your French is a little rusty, as mine is, there's always Google translate. However there's still plenty to look at with a number of scans of comic book covers and inside panels.

I can't get over the difference in cover art and attitude between British war comics and the one shown here.

I'll have to have a look through my collection to see if I can find an equivalent cover in a War Picture Library.

Back to the French...yours truly is excited (and a little bit proud) to have received acknowledgment for my contribution to the project.

Moustache Monday!

Admiration and buckets of it! Where else would a moustache be found? Here we see a well groomed man looking dashing and quite the fellow in between his head wound and cravat.

See how the two rough types can only eye with him with admiration as he discusses the needs of other chaps.

This is the difference - either admire or be admired!

Covers in no real order

Meanwhile over at boardgamegeek.com The man with a bow and arrow...

I swear there's a War Picture Library  -or is it a Commando? that runs with this theme.

More than happy to hear from somebody who knows.

Well over at boardgamegeek.com they're looking for a caption to this unusual picture.

If you know the issue that has a bow carrying  GI or Tommy please let me know.

Cover of the Week War Picture Library 8 Wings Over The Navy

If it's war you want then it's war you're going to get! And what do we get from the cover of War Picture Library 8 Wings Over the Navy? We get plenty of action!

To start with there's an aircraft carrier under attack. A British Swordfish is doing its best to get into the air, a stoic gun crew is giving it all they've got and the incoming nasties are looking to do some more damage. The sky is full of flak bursts and smoke trails of downed aircraft, meanwhile on the flight there's no where to hide for a few unfortunate good guys.

There's so much going on in War Picture Library 8 Wings Over the Navy I'm not sure where to look.

There's not a lot of subtlety in this picture.

There's also a bit of awkwardness as my eye keeps on getting drawn to that damn 652 that's just not siting in the right perspective.

On thing is for certain - the story had better live up to the promise that the cover is trying to make.

Amalgamated Press published this great looking story just in time for Christmas back in 1958. As covers go it doesn't have the sophistication of later editions. However style has to start somewhere. The colours are great and I like the way that lumbering biplane is coming off the deck and up out of the cover. This is one of the first War Picture Libraries and I feel honour bound to give it an 8/10.

Moustache Monday!

Even a moustache must relax.

After a day of display in front of the men there needs to be some down time. What better than to enjoy the girlish tickle of bubbles from a gin and tonic and a well earned rest in the officers' mess.

Yet even in the company of fellow officers the thoughts of propriety are never far away and the correct placement of one's holster in front of lesser ranks needs to be maintained.

Meanwhile over at Kystfort.com...

You'll find a bunch of Norwegian blokes who are interested in bunkers,bunker tours and Norwegian WW2 military archeology and conservation. Good looking site and a pretty active forum. Shame I don't speak the local language - but google translation seems to do a reasonable job.

Meanwhile over at Silver and Bronze Age Subjects...

Enemy Ace finds himself in a spot of bother. I always thought the world didn't discover colour until I was born. I had plenty of evidence. When I was growing up TV was in black and white, photos were in black and white and my pocket war comics were in black and white.

However Americans were set to challenge my world view by producing comics in colour!

Over at Silver and Bronze Age Subjects the discussion turns to glorious colour, the comics and the artists who brought them to life.

Moustache Monday!

The moustache that strikes at dawn clearly knows what it is doing. It is the tash of destiny. Others may try to strike in the early hours of the morning but it is only the man with the tash who really knows how to make it work.

Some may say that it is not the place of a moustache to be found skulking around in the pre-morning darkness waiting for the first rays of sunlight waiting to reveal itself.

These people are clearly wrong - as anybody knows who sports a moustache or is intending to unleash one understands that the right time for a moustache is now. 

Whether lurking or not this tash of destiny is a man of clear thought and direct action. Intelligence, courage and grooming all combine to create an irresistible force of charm, inner strength and determination.

This is a man who is willing to carry the force of his convictions to the ultimate conclusion.

Are you able to do the same?