Muscular read

“American Hunks” is an important contribution to the underdeveloped social history of the visual treatment of the well-built male body, as documented in drawings and photography since the middle of the 19th century.

It is a beautifully produced volume of 350 pages that includes about 450 photographs and drawings of wrestlers, “strongmen,” bodybuilders and other muscular men from 1860 to 1970 — more or less up to the very young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Most of the photographs are in black and white but most of the drawings are in color.

The images come from a wide range of sources: mid-20th century physique magazines, photographs, pulp paperback book covers, movie stills, and commercial advertising. A quarter to a third of the photos are of nudes. Many physique photographers took both nude and non-nude photographs, limiting the circulation of the nudes to trusted clients.

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Force be with her

From Bluewater Comics, the newest issue in the “Female Force” series collects the life stories of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and Caroline Kennedy.

A Fox News critic would look at the all-American cover of the four women and see a left-wing conspiracy of sorts: Three Democrats, one Republican, what gives? Three liberals, one conservative, so where is Condoleezza Rice?

But this issue of “Female Force” focuses on four women in politics who are shaping the future; Rice helped trash the past.

“Each of these women has a powerful life story to share,” says Bluewater president Darren Davis. “And each has made a significant contribution to the political and cultural landscape.”

The comic book — written by Neal Bailey and illustrated by Vinnie Tartamella, Ryan Howe, Joshua LaBello, Mike Adams, Michelle Davies, Kirsty Swan, Malachi Sharlow, Wilson Ramos and Jaymes Reed — does not cast Clinton, Obama, Palin and Kennedy as superheroes in an all-female Justice League, but it does have super fun with their life stories and the 2008 presidential campaign.

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