The Lonely War of Willi Franz:
Here's Your Chance to Own Comic Art & Benefit a Comic Writer in Need of Help!

It's rare that I post links to any auctions at eBay, but I occasionally make exceptions -- and here's one of 'em, brought to my attention by one of my first publishers in the comics field, Larry Shell, to promote an incredibly generous gesture by one of my all-time favorite cartoonists and one of my personal heroes, the great Sam Glanzman.

Sam is seeking to raise funds for his ill friend and vet comics writer Willi Franz; if you wish to make a donation, sans bidding, contact Larry directly at lawrenceshell@comcast.net.

Read on; this is Larry's press release, and I urge you to consider bidding on this body of work (or some portion of it) for Willi's benefit:

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(For a closer look at the pages at right, click on this link and enjoy!)

Willi Franz Benefit Auctions Now On eBay!
Featuring the artwork to four complete Charlton War Stories!

Larry's press release (please note, I am not the one representing Sam):

"As many know, I represent Sam Glanzman for original art sales, commissions and occasionally deal with publishers on his behalf... Sam called me a few weeks ago and told me his good friend and former collaborator, writer Willi Franz, was 'in bad health and broke' (Sam’s exact words).

Sam asked if he could send me the original art to some stories Willi wrote the scripts for and Sam would donate everything he made from the sale of the art to Willi to help him out. Imagine my surprise when I received the artwork to four complete Charlton war stories including a Lonely War of Willie Schulz, which is a highly regarded series by collectors!

I am offering all four of these stories this week on the eBay Auction website.
All four stories are written by Willi and one is actually penciled by him [see art above, right, and link to closer views - SRB] and inked by Glanzman. The other three are pure Glanzman art.

See list of titles and links to auctions below. Each has a detailed description and a scan of the item being offered. I’ve scheduled each of these auctions to end 5 minutes apart to give buyers interested in more than one story a chance to bid.

The cover to Fightin' Army #79, featuring "The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz" story Sam Glanzman has now put up for auction to benefit his long-time pal and the series author Willi Franz

All four Benefit auctions are now running, will last a total of 7 days, and end on Sunday, September 9th!

To repeat, all the money Sam makes from the sale of these stories will go to Willi, so bid accordingly and thanks for looking!"

- Larry Shell – “sheltone” on eBay

Here's the link to Larry's auctions.

List of Stories Offered:

Willi Franz & Sam Glanzman "HUERTGEN MINEFIELD" - Complete 8-Pg Story

Here's the auction/art link.

Willi Franz & Sam Glanzman LONELY WAR OF WILLY SCHULTZ Complete 10-Pg Story – "Snowball In Hell!"

Here's the auction/art link.

Willi Franz & Sam Glanzman THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE Complete 10-Pg Story – "Fox Hunt"

Here's the auction/art link.

Willi Franz & Sam Glanzman THE IRON CORPORAL Complete 9-Pg Story -- "Two Grenades - Thirty Rounds"

Here's the auction/art link.

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The Wicked War of George W. --
When Bush Leaves the Bubble,
Does the Bubble Travel With Bush?

Hold on to your hat: the heavy fall propaganda campaign to "re-sell" this fucking war to the American populace is about to escalate with President Bush's surprise trip to Iraq hitting the news sites, and Bush no doubt using this to claim, truthfully, "I've just been to Iraq myself" --

-- but how can we believe anything he says?

Given the ongoing 'bubble' of protection Bush habitually surrounds himself with when traveling in our own country, one can only guess how extensively and intensively handled, molded and coordinated this "surprise visit" to Iraq must have been. They naturally visited one of the touted "success stories" of the surge, and the most heavily-fortified air base in the entire country.

No doubt Bush has now been presented with absolutely irrefutable "evidence" to confirm his every stubbornly-held belief, and we're in for a fresh round of ballyhoo that will be more blistering and infuriating than any in recent memory.

Photo: Reuters - Mon Sep 3, 9:24 AM ET: President George W. Bush meets with General David Petraeus (3rd L), the top U.S. Commander in Iraq, upon Bush's arrival at Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar Province, Iraq, September 3, 2007. Also pictured are U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2nd R) and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates (3rd R). Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday, just a week before his top officials in Baghdad present pivotal testimony to Congress that could influence future policy on the war. (Copyright 2007 Jason Reed/Reuters)

I mean, really. Has any President's 'bubble' been so relentlessly maintained and stage-managed before, well beyond the necessary security issues? The security issues alone make any such trip a dubious proposition in terms of our Commander-in-Chief actually getting any view of the Iraq conflict save that shaped by the Pentagon; the fact that Bush has so persistently refuted any view contrary to his own, one can only rationally presume Bush would only entertain such a trip to further bolster his own rigid views. As I say, now he can say, "I've been there -- I've seen the progress with my own eyes."

But of course. What other possibility would be permitted to be seen? What other "reality" would Bush care to speak of?

The American arenas Bush has appeared in and/or spoken to have been hand-picked and carefully weeded. The Iraq visits have to be even more rigorously sheltered and orchestrated to reflect only the President's bubble world view. How could it be otherwise? Even public forums have been tendered for almost a decade: no protesters, nothing but a sea of faces mirroring and supporting the preferred Bush world view.

The evidence is abundant: from the first day of then-Governor George W. Bush's Presidential campaign began, the crowds of have carefully filtered, corralled and pruned to ensure no shred of dissent or negativity tainted any appearance. That has only been intensified during Bush's Presidency:

I could link to any number of articles on this matter, but here's the latest I'm aware of, covering the lawsuit the Bush Administration just capitulated to (our tax dollars at work, paying for more of Bush's bullshit) via settlement:

"That's right, friends, $80,000 (of your taxpayer dollars) will be paid out to Jeff and Nicole Rank, whose suit against Gregory J. Jenkins —- former deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Presidential Advance —- has been dismissed" via the settlement.

Check out those links and the revelation of the handler manual. Amazing.

How could any visit to Iraq be anything but a confirmation of the illusions the President and his Administration have so steadfastly maintained in the face of reality?

Just -- fair warning. The shit is going to get mighty deep.

2:15 PM update: Ah, see, it's already deep.

"General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker tell me if the kind of success we are seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces," Bush told reporters traveling with him...
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Have a great Labor Day, one and all...