Male Call

by Milton Caniff

Miss Lace is back and she's with Hermes Press! Milton Caniff's famous good girl, created just for servicemen during WW II, known to G.I. Joes everywhere as "Lace," is available to all her fans in a deluxe hardcover art book reprinting the entire run of the strip. Move over Rita Hayworth - sultry, sassy Miss Lace and her daily adventures are given the royal treatment with a host of extras including a detailed intro by noted Caniff historian R.C. Harvey, complete with unused art, documentary materials, advertising art, and more.

Genres: Comics, War, Humor, Comic Strips

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

Reviews

[Roberto Audiffred · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is exceptional, as one would expect from Caniff, but the humor really can only be understood by WW2 soldiers! Caniff drew sexy women as only a few can!

[Trevor Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caniff's Male Call is not my favorite work from the artist, but it's clear that he can draw the heck out of a comic strip. This one doesn't offer a ton of range, but every panel still seems to pop, and the pin-up style of Lace (and Burma in the earlier strips) is pretty stunningly gorgeous at times. Admittedly, some of the gags of the strip haven't aged well, and there's more that goes over my head than I've seen in other strips, but that's also part of the strip's charm. For those looking to understand the culture of the armed forces during the war, I think this collection is a pretty valuable resource, and it's certainly a great piece for anyone's comics library.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most American WW2 era comic strips would have received a G rating, had ratings been invented. MALE CALL would have been PG for its often bawdy content. That was fine with the armed services, which ran the strip in its publications. They knew that grunts wanted even more sex than Milton Caniff delivered.

I am not the ideal person to comment on this strip. I was born just after the Korean War and was not a member of the military. I can only evaluate MALE CALL from that uninformed perspective. It seems lightly amusing, mostly well done, but about other people. Those other people might well have a more praising perspective than I can have.

[Erik Lehman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very pretty but pretty shallow.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even just-okay Caniff is pretty good by anybody else's standards.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as risque as it looks or sounds, Caniff drew these toward end of WWII. Since I was never in the Army, I did not get a lot of things referenced.