Christina M. KnopfRecensioni

The Comic Art of War
by Christina M. Knopf
McFarland and Company, 2015
$39.95; 252 pages
ISBN 9780786498352

I received this book for free as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Another textbook from my to-read pile, this one a detailed academic study of military cartoons, both official propaganda and the kind guys doodle to relieve stress or boredom.

I enjoyed flipping through and looking at the pictures, but this isn't a book I am interested in reading.

Christina M. Knopf, the author of The Comic Art of War, is an associate professor at SUNY-Potsdam (according to this book's back copy). I have a feeling that taking a class on this topic by her would be absolutely fascinating and that she would be able to use many more visual examples in that class. This book, probably intended as an accompanying textbook for that class, unfortunately has few such visual examples. In order to read the text-heavy text, one has to have an intense interest in the military and the military life across the last couple hundred years. Descriptions of these are very adequate but does not do much to pull in the non-military background reader such as myself -- more visual examples probably would have.

I have to say the most interesting chapter to me was Sex(es) in Battle (Chapter 6), where the issue of women in service is discussed along with openly gay service members. And lots of comics had addressed the problem of sexually transmitted diseases in service people.

This book is best for those with an academic interest in comics and/or the military. For those people, The Comic Art of War is useful to have, but for laypersons such as myself and my teenaged son, both of us interested in comics and graphic novels, it can be a very long (and at times a bit dry) exposure to the topic if the reader stays through it to the end.

Well presented academic study of the role of cartoons in shaping both civilian and military perceptions of warfare. Suffers, as do most studies of the cartoon genre, from a deficit of examples. Since a cartoon is an entirety, except in the case of comic strips, publishers are traditionally reluctant to grant permission for reprinting, even for academic purposes. The same problem afflicts the study of song lyrics. Payment of copyright for each example would make a book of this length prohibitively expensive. This book will probably find it's main home in academic libraries or as a textbook. I can't really recommend this for a non-specialist since it is not light reading.

Primarily written for an academic audience, The Comic Art of War will be of use to historians, scholars, and cartoonists, but a typical reader will be disappointed by the lack of actual cartoons and strips included in the book and the overly academic writing style. Knopf focuses the chapters on themes such as combat, sexuality, civilians, and culture.

Even my general knowledge of comics felt that the author missed some opportunities to talk about Eisner's teaching comics for the military, the role the military had on artists, such as the King, Jack Kirby, Dr. Seuss's military comics, and Larry Hama's Marvel comic, The Nam.

This is an academic survey of military cartooning from 1805-2014, though I'd say the biggest emphasis are in the WWI and II eras. The author has done a good job, and I think the book a good acquisition for academic libraries. Your taste as a reader for this type of book may vary. I felt the lack of reproduced examples of the cartoons discussed (and sure the lack of doing so is due to cost, especially where acquiring rights would be at issue.) Someone doing her own research would have access to examples elsewhere, but for the general reader that usefulness of the book is diminished because you can't see for yourself what is being discussed. The analysis does seem perceptive.

I was disappointed in The Comic Art of War. The readability of this critical study was on a par with a textbook, not without a few surprises, however. Something in particular that I noticed in reading was the reference to Civil War era 'off-hand' amputation jokes. Now, that got my attention! Actual cartoon examples were rather more sparse than I would have hoped. The book was well laid out with chapters on military hierarchy, gender and sexuality, and combat casualties among other topics, along with appendix, bibliography, notes and index. Also flowcharts and debriefings to summarize the 'rhetorical vision' of each chapter. I felt like I should be studying for a midterm. Sigh.

The Comic Art of War is a fun book to read if you are interested in the comic form and how it was used during wartime. It is well written and full of interesting facts that will keep you reading until the last page.

The author does a nice job of explain the different type of comics as well as a brief history of the comic narrative. The first chapter touches on an orientation to the subject matter and well as military culture and cohesion with attention to the place of humor in the military environment. Also introduces humor types and trends in the military and the wars, as well as the comics function in the military setting.. The chapter also deals with kinds of humor from different branches of the military to difference sides of the battle comparing and contrasting. Showing also that humor is important during war/service.
Humor comes from many sources, including the GI, military life, hierarchy, the poor bugle blower, boredom, uniforms, how to wear a hat, latrines, KP duty, personal hygiene, appearance regulations, overcrowding, endless acronyms, health and shots, alcohol, jargon, saluting, rival branches, the enemy, terrain, location, opposite/same sex, etc. Also dealing with the horrors of war and military service and the struggles it creates when families are separated or constantly relocating. Plus the differences between military life and “normal” American life which don’t always coincide.
The conclusion was excellent and overall the book really made me feel differently about our citizens in service. The graphic narrative is an expression of those in the military.
The book shows that the author has done their homework and the material is presented in an analysis form, yet does not feel stiff or formulaic.
I enjoyed the book my only wish is that I wish there were more cartoons (but I figured that had to do with getting rights etc). But most of all I felt informed and I laughed.½