vintage fightin' army ad of the day

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Vintage Ad #353: More Fake Facial Fuzz
Call this a sequel to last week's look at the '69 vintage of fake facial fuzz. Same drawings, same prices, but different comic book publisher and 'stache peddler. Perhaps "Man International" was a west coast branch of Honor House? Or was there a cartel of fake mustache, sideburns and Van Dyke producers that banded together to corner the market?

The only thing I know about the address is that Ed Wood spent his final years living in a squalid apartment on Yucca St, being evicted shortly before his death in 1978. From the accounts given by Wood's associates in Rudolph Grey's book Nightmare of Ecstasy, the building was full of alcoholics, battling spouses, prostitutes and gunfights.

Fightin' Army was one of the mainstays of the Charlton Comics lineup, lasting for 157 issues between 1956 and 1984. The series hit its peak with the lead feature in this issue, The Lonely War of Willy Schultz (1967-70). Written by teenager Will Franz and drawn by veteran artist Sam Glanzman, the series followed an American soldier wanted for murder during World War II, who hides out among the both Allied and Axis troops, risking being arrested as a traitor by either side. It was a far more complex, interesting series than the usual formulaic Charlton war product. Glanzman soon moved over to DC Comics, where he wrote and drew a series based on his wartime experiences, USS Stevens.

Source: Fightin' Army #87, September 1969 - JB

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