Tales by many, Of many: True War Stories

                                           

        True War Stories, edited by Alex de Campi & Khai Krumbhaar, is a graphic novel orchestrated by various different authors, depicting a lesser known view of what all U.S. soldiers had to endure in their travels ranging from the tales of the deployments in Vietnam, to present ongoing conflicts. These series of detailed and ultimately real war stories come to tell us all the hardships U.S. soldiers had to deal with in relation to family, relationships, and the imminent wonder of ‘will I make it to tomorrow?’; all of these factors which led to scars permanent only to those who have experienced the lowest dwells of war itself. And so, without further ado, let us delve back into the world that graphic novels have to offer with art in a way no other but to extend a deeper meaning to its illustrations and to give path to the underlying stories behind them, in ways pure words could not even start to pave or construct.

Additionally, because of the books’ place in more modern times, it is also fortunate to showcase some intriguing angles on how the age of newfound gender and identity had shifted and refreshed millions of lives in retrospect to the U.S. military. This side of the books’ stories is able to administer a more inclusive embrace to a larger portion of readers, making connections in stories told from war, some of which warm the heart or end rather vaguely - something I’ll leave you to find out for yourself if you do so to decide to read the book. 

Finally and most importantly, these stories told in the eyes of the soldiers who lived them are able to show all the mental fortitude and stability each one and every soldier had to face and overcome in the line of war whether it be in training or engaged within the frontlines of war itself. From all that of our soldiers had to conquer and get past in the turmoils of war, they had to develop for themselves a type of mental discipline before or in the process of their militaristic maturity; this which they had to endure and retain across the duration of their tours and earnest voyages no matter what consequences came sequentially, as their only objective was to diligently protect and serve our country. True War Stories best shows this within each and every chapter of each and every story, conclusively showing all the things our soldiers had to do for us with little to gain but their own characteristic fulfilments. 

Overall, the collection of tales that True War Stories tells and depicts across its 260 pages are able to give meaning to its art and stories in the same time of giving a greater meaning to its illustrations and accounts. The book does a great job representing the views and perspectives of so many of our soldiers, typically views lost in the rubble of war itself. Additionally, the path it lays out for each story and where each is set in the book makes it an emotional roller coaster with an amazing finishing wrap up that connects in whole at the very end. True War Stories shows itself to be a book of several emotions alternating back and forth within and outside of every story, giving definition to anticipations and trials some of which one could never see otherwise. Thanks to its unique representations, its events’ interpretations are able to be dissolved in unique ways within the concurrency of its refining artstyle across its graphical representations and textual depictions. 

For this book, I would send a Paleta Payaso into space and with a parachute and have it be picked up by a battleship in the middle of the ocean, all of this showcasing the unique creativity procured in this book along with the journeys of many wrapped within. 

-   Jakub Tinoco