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A vivid and confidently executed recruiting poster issued in the final months of World War II, Coming Right Up! is one of the last military images created by the celebrated American illustrator James Montgomery Flagg. Commissioned by the Army Recruiting Publicity Bureau just weeks after the surrender of Germany, the poster reflects continued efforts to enlist men for the ongoing Pacific campaign.
The image shows a returning pilot striding forward with parachute pack over one shoulder, lifting his headgear in a salute to a flight of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings climbing into the sky. Flagg’s slogan—“Coming Right Up!”—draws on the idiom of the short-order diner, cheekily reframing aerial combat as a matter of speed and delivery. The bold text block and crimson border echo the high-contrast urgency of the war’s earlier propaganda, while the painterly style and blue-dominant palette are hallmarks of Flagg’s late period.
Signed in print in the image at lower left, the poster stands as a reminder of Flagg’s remarkable service record as an artist across two world wars. Though his Uncle Sam remains iconic, Coming Right Up! is notable for its rarity, its technically specific depiction of U.S. Army Air Forces hardware, and its transitional historical moment: issued just as the wartime propaganda machine was beginning to wind down.
![Newsmap for the Armed Forces V-E Day + 8 Weeks—185th Week of U.S. Participation in the War [on verso:]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/95434.jpg)
