Our Fighting Forces #161

Our Fighting Forces #161, published by DC Comics in 1975, represents a pivotal moment in the series' history, marking the beginning of Jack Kirby's tenure as writer and artist. After a long run focusing on various military stories, the book was transitioned into a home for Kirby's The Losers, a team of combat veterans that he had previously revived. Kirby sought to bring his distinct, dynamic aesthetic and bombastic narrative style to the war genre, infusing these characters with a gritty, high-stakes energy that set them apart from the more traditional war comics of the era.

The reception of this issue and Kirby's subsequent run was mixed among contemporary readers, as his stylized, non-traditional approach to realism contrasted sharply with the established tone of the title. Over time, however, the work has been re-evaluated by collectors and historians as a singular creative project where Kirby leveraged the framework of a war comic to explore themes of resilience, camaraderie, and the psychological toll of conflict through his signature exaggerated compositions and kinetic storytelling.