Comics into movies: "The Losers"

I remember "The Losers" as a WWII comic from DC. That is, it was an early `70's publication set in WWII. I was never a big fan of war comics, but when I heard about "The Losers" movie I wanted to dig a little deeper.

Wikipedia helped set my mental record straight. "The Losers" I remember were each from different branches of the military, assembled as a crack team of commandos to take on the worst jobs of WWII. Each team member had lost personnel under their command, so they dubbed themselves "The Losers". These stories were written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Russ Heath.

Later, DC transferred the title to their Vertigo line. Vertigo was created in the `90's to showcase edgier stories than normal DC fare, including adult situations and concepts. For Vertigo "The Losers" were modernized by making them each members of a more covert-ops/special forces sort of squad.

"The Losers" movie is based on the Vertigo version of the comics and, after viewing the trailer and reviewing the Wiki about the comics, it seems to borrow fairly heavily from the premise of "The A-Team", in that the main characters have somehow become outcasts from and/or enemies of the organizations to which they'd originally pledged their lives.

I suspect "The A-Team" will probably be the better movie, with the star-power to make their plans come together.

If you're a fan of these, you will probably also enjoy "The Expendables", and have probably already seen "Inglourious Basterds". In all, it looks like a great summer for good old action flicks.

For more action and adventure between these exciting films there are plenty of similar books at Bonnett's Books to help you pass the time. Stop by to check out our huge selection of action/adventure books, military fiction, military history, war stories, and pulp fiction, including "The Destroyer", "The Executioner", "Able Team", "Stony Man", "Doc Savage", miscellaneous war comics, and action movies on DVD.

Learn more about "The Losers" here:
The Losers (comics) on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losers_%28comics%29
The Losers on don Markstein's Toonopedia - http://www.toonopedia.com/losers.htm
The Losers (DC WWII version by Jack Kirby) - http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=10915
The Losers (Vertigo/movie inspiration) - http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=13870
The Losers movie listing on IMDb - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/
The Losers movie official site (movie trailer) - http://www.the-losers.com/

Popular items lately

Golden Globe Awards, NFL Playoffs, Winter Olympics and Academy Awards on deck. With all this competition in the air I'm in the mood to give out some awards of my own. No nominees, no runner-up, just callin' 'em like I see 'em.

• "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

'Gatsby' is on someone's assigned reading list, so, if you know someone who needs it, send them our way. There are plenty available. And remember, you can trade them in when you've finished! "The Great Gatsby" is our "Most Requested Title" book lately and our most requested title so far in 2010. Leave it to the classics to start the list.

• "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

I knew it was popular, but I didn't know it had been made into a movie. I hear about it at home because my wife plans to read it, and I see it here at the store every day. Now the movie trailers are all over TV. Good thing though. I didn't know what the book was about until I saw the trailer. Looks like an interesting read. I love wordplay so the award for "Saturation Awareness" goes to "The Lovely Bones."

• T.S. Eliot gets the honor of "Most Requested Writer".

It all began with a request for a book seen behind Marlon Brando's character of Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now." We didn't know the title, but we knew it contained the word "Romance." After some searching we learned the book was "From Ritual to Romance" by Jessie L. Weston, and there, on IMDb, this book was said to have inspired T.S. Eliot to write "The Wasteland." Interesting. Shortly thereafter, and again today, customers came in looking specifically for T.S. Eliot.

Perhaps it's all this attention to T.S. Eliot that subliminally inspired me to pose Mr. T with our currently available copies of "The Great Gatsby." For what it's worth, there's a trailer out for a movie based on "The A-Team" which, even though I was never a huge fan of the show, looks like it's going to be really good. So, Honorable Mention goes to "The A-Team Move Trailer."

So many books become movies. So many TV shows spawn book series. I've touched on the subject in this blog before. Movies from comics and comics into books, and anime and manga. It's all connected and there's something of it all to be found at Bonnett's. Come take a look around and maybe you'll help give rise to the next set of "Bonnett's Awards." ;-)