Peter Berg, director of the Rundown and Friday Night Lights, has signed on to write and produce a film version of the "Losers." According to the Reuters article the movie will apparently deal with the original, rather than the modern Vertigo, version of the characters. The modern version is a pretty good "update," and I understand why they updated the narrative according to current Vertigo writerAndy Diggle:
Our initial plan was to reuinite the original Losers for a story set in the 1950s; but we decided that American Century and Garth Ennis' War Stories were too similar in style and subject matter, so we reinvented it for the present day.
Plus the original guys all died, and nobody wants to get caught up in a continuity minefield.
Given that they orignal Losers died in Zero Hour and again in DC's New Frontier mini-series, I wouldn't have seen any real continuity problems with having them live again, but I can understand the hesitation.
The original Losers, along with Haunted Tank, were a regular feature in G.I. Combat magazine. Those of you who are Roy Lichtenstein fans will note that the images in his painting "Okay, Hot-Shot" are reminiscent of Russ Heath's work in G.I. Combat #94 (a Haunted Tank story) and All-American Men of War #89. Irv Novick, who drew the All-American #89 image "was Lichtenstein's superior officer in 1947 in an army unit assigned to create posters of military life" (Daniels, DC Comics 60 Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes page 149).
Lichtenstein's "Okay Hot-Shot"
Russ Heath G.I Combat # 94 (Original in Color, this image B/W)
Irv Novick All-American Men of War #89 (Original in Color, this image B/W)
If you look carefully you can see that the line art in the comic book versions is very sophisticated.
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