This is a site devoted to casting a spotlight on those comics in the Sunday pages that for one reason or another, were never collected.
Also, I'll be paying attention to other comics worthy of wider recognition.
It’s Remembrance Day again, and it’s a suitably appropriate time to commemorate for the 100th Anniversary of the end of the War to end all Wars.
In years past, I would’ve posted a link to the first major story arc of Charley’s War in the Somme, but the Mediafire account I used got shut down, probably from lack of activity. It wouldn’t be much use, since there’s now a much better format for seeing all of Charley’s War anyways. The entire series has been collected in three bulky volumes, from Rebellion press.
In place of the photorealistic stock images of the early Titan editions, they have appropriate cover art, showing the glory that is Joe Colquhoun's art, which is on par having Bill Maudlin’s wonderfully weary army veterans told in story form. In political terms, that’s the highest praise that can be garnered.
The larger collections also have the benefit of having large sections of the story available all at once, and helps reduce the annoyance of having storylines suddenly stop midway, just as things were getting good (which, given the nature of cliffhangers, were pretty much all of them) The only volume that didn’t end on a cliffhanger was the 4th volume, Blue’s Story, and appropriately enough, it’s the only story that doesn’t show up in the first omnibus. Rather, it's the first story in the second omnibus.
The newer editions also have the benefit of having colour art, though there's a few pages that the author Pat Mills thought would work more effectively in Black and White. As a period piece, I can't disagree with his assertment. The omnibuses also have the complete storyarc of The Great Mutiny, that for some reason, was missing six crucial pages of the controversial incident. It was so outrageous that there's a media blackout even now, and the British higher-ups have constantly denied it ever happened. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the cover for the 3rd book, which while well-drawn, is bereft of any identifiable faces. But for a list of potential complaints, such as the paper stock being too shiny, that's extremely low on the disagreement department.
There's no better way to pay your respects to the thousands of people who died than to read the best dramatization of WWI guised up in a boy's weekly action magazine format. Well, maybe other than making a donation to veterans for their service, but that goes without saying.
Like the rest of the world, I too was shocked at the results of the American election. After months of revealing dozens if not hundreds of shocking quotes and scandals associated with Trump, the American public couldn't stand the prospect of having a woman tell them what to do. Instead, they went for someone who'd give the temperament of a manipulative controlling Father figure filling that role. Apparently, the sheer volume of Trump atrocities melding into an indistinguishable mush couldn't compare to the much more identifiable Clinton email scandal, which seemed to be what people really cared about.
I'm cautiously pessimistic, constantly looking for worst-case scenarios so that if they ever come to pass, I won't be as traumatized when it actually happens. But even *I* was caught flatfooted at the election results. Hillary lost by sheer fractions of the votes in key states, and from less than half of the country not bothering to put out and go the extra mile to give their say. And those who remained bitter about Bernie Sanders not being on the ballot. The remainder went for the third party to protest voting for Clinton. Good going guys, you really showed 'em!
Trump won not as a result of a sudden voter surge, but from a lack of voters who didn't bother to cast their opinion in. That, and white women voting for the man, others throwing theirs for the 3rd party and voter suppression overall.
Just scant hours after the votes rolled in, it was justification for closeted bigots to go out and start harassing minorities they'd been scared of for years, but never had the "courage" to go out and say so. As a result, suicide risks among Transgendered people rose, along with attacks on Blacks, Muslims, Women and Asians increased, and the Canadian Immigration website crashed.
At this rate, with the current climate, Trump won't HAVE to implement a ban on immigrants - they'll be too scared to come over here once they see how they'll be treated. Unless the world they're currently living in is WORSE than how it is now, then they must be TRULY desperate.
Not that there may be much of a United States left, what with several States thinking about Seceding from the toxic environment, including California and Oregon. (It's the Oregon trail all over again!) Texas contemplated seceding, but never quite followed through. And Columbia just registered to become the 51st State, so there's that.
One of the bitterest pills to swallow in addition to Clinton gracefully stepping down (not even trying to engage a fruitless fight) was seeing Justin Trudeau make good for appealing to Trump's winning, out of political need and avoid getting on his bad side. If it were up to me, I'd say that he may have attained the role of President, but that doesn't automatically give him a default state for admiration. The outside world won't be so easily fooled with your rhetoric. Your role isn't something to be taken lightly. Respect? If you want respect, start by showing it to other people.
What's particularly troubling in the wake of Trump's victory is how much he's normalized his hate rhetoric. The ramifications will extend long after the election, inspiring others to follow his model, finely tuned to their tastes. There's proof that they may wind up losing jobs, which will only increase their ire further. And if Trump refused to release his tax returns, his loyalists may wonder why they should bother paying those taxes in the first place. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a debt of one Quadrillion Dollars. I remain absolutely convinced that Trump is just going to drain the Country dry.
The worst part is that even if Trump gets impeached, steps down or leaves, Vice President Pence would be sworn in as his replacement, and he's more of a political monster than Trump is because he knows how to game the system. The fact that even Trump himself looks like he's regretting being elevated to position of President is small comfort.
Normally around this time of year, I have the first arc of Charley's War available for a single day.
This year, however, I'll leave the link up for as long as needed. If I receive a notice to take it down, I will. Until then, we shouldn't forget the needless sacrifices made just so we could get to this state. Originally, I intended to show some sample pages from Chimo, which focused on aspects of Canada's involvement in WWI, and it's expansion of its arts program there, but decided to focus solely on the most pertinent bits.
It's frightening to realize that Canada is essentially the last bastion of representation for Multiculturism. Even the prospects of a recount of remaining votes leading to a slim Trump-Clinton tie seem farfetched at most. All we can do is keep fighting the good fight, never relenting when we see injustices happening, show our support however subtle, and keep soldering on.
Brian K. Vaughan's latest comic proposal, We Stand on Guard, of the US invading Canada sounded interesting on proposal, but loses me in it's execution, even with the addition of a bilingual guard robot. Part of the problem is that it's written by an American, and not co-written by actual Canadians who'd give some authenticity to the franchise. The ragtag team at the end of the preview (their tiny Canadian flag tags notwithstanding) posing with guns (to appear cool) didn't exactly fill me with confidence. And by the 6th and last issue, any enthusiasm was universally panned.
For the most part, Canadians are regularly ignored, and perk up whenever Americans stand up and notice any of our contributions we've done that normally fall under their scandal-watching radar. Part of the problem is that Americans know very little about Canada, which is especially troubling since according to a multiple-choice survey, 1/3 of American 8th Graders thought Canadians were a Dictatorship, along with Australia and France. This wasn't borne from a deep internal reflection of our last political party, but from massive guesswork of limited choices. They thought that given their current standard of living, any other place would be considerably worse off, since who Wouldn't want to be an American??? The unwelcome answer is: not everyone. People take a kind of jingoist pride in their own countries the same way Americans do in theirs - they just express it differently.
Generally speaking, Canadians have a different attitude and mentality that isn't easily fit for mass consumption. Our left-leaning politics is more of a passive-aggressive stance. We're more likely to win our battles through political manipulation than with outright overkill. Stephen Harper tried to win his Prime Minister term with scaremongering, reminiscent of typical American election rulebooks, but his strong-arm tactics and single stranglehold over the party (along with unpopular decisions* and scandals that were coming to light) were enough to deem him undesirable, and welcome back the Liberal party, despite their Sponsorship scandal. Boring, but practical, that's us.
Q. What's the worst insult you can give a Canadian? A. Calling them Americans.
Indeed, a general complaint about Canadians is that we're notoriously difficult to pin down because of our lack of identity. While that could be considered a fault, it also works as a plus, since it frees us from being strictly adhered to any one overall ideal. But that also has a dark undercurrent for the Ugly Canadian - we're the only country that defines ourselves by what we're not. Our singular identifying bragging feature is that we're not Americans.
"Okay, we might have a looming deficit, but at least we're not as bad as the Americans!"
"Okay, we've got rampant police brutality, but at least we're not as bad as the Americans!"
"Okay, we've got a long history of unfair treatment towards the Aboriginal First Nations, but at least we're not as bad as the Americans!"
If Brian K. Vaughan wanted to give a better portrayal of Canadians, he should've at least considered the plausible ways that Canada could protect itself from an invasion force that for all likes and purposes, overwhelm them by sheer firepower alone. The best Canadian strategy would be to hit them before the Americans could deploy the nuclear option - they wouldn't even HAVE to deploy a strike anywhere on our land - just melt the polar caps enough to flood our land beyond submission. The surest way to protect yourself against a force you're overly familiar with is to determine the most extreme solution, and then guard against that. (A gun's useless if you can't pull the trigger)
"The main aim of this policy would not be to actually fight a war, but to make it clear that the war will be so costly and so bloody that you don't want to fight it."
Of course, a better authentic portrayal would be if he'd gotten some consultation advice from an ACTUAL Canadian. Preferably, someone who'd served in the armed services. (The artist doesn't count - he's Spanish) After hearing this proposal, I started thinking about all the kinds of ways that would prompt an attack. What would be the impetus for the US to invade Canada in the first place? My first guess was that they'd want full access to our water supply, after inadvertently poisoning their reserves beyond saving. Sure, crude oil is necessary for moving large swaths of transportation around for a circulatory system of goods and people, but NOBODY can survive without water. People deprived of resources they need to live would be willing to do ANYTHING, no matter the cost, even at the expense of all else. This could be one realm where Government Bureaucracy (where Canadian excel) wouldn't be of much use. Hostage negotiations and prisoner exchanges could be used to convince the other side to give up in exchange for some quality life-giving water.
But we didn't get any of that. We were treated to scenes of soldiers traversing frozen wastelands, with none of the environmental hazards present. Nor were we presented with scenarios such as preparing for warmer climates and shifting weather patterns or any background details of changing wet socks from accidentally stepping into ankle-deep waters. If there's one topic that unites Canadians, it's the weather. Americans have a generally stable weather system, with only occasional earthquakes and hurricanes to deal with. But deal a little snow on the highways, and the whole city goes under, because they can't handle a little slippage, inadvertently causing car-pile-ups and traffic jams. This isn't an egotistical slant - Canadians are just as guilty of this, because the instant a few flakes start falling, we're more concerned on getting to Point B than wasting time putting on time/life-saving snow tires.
Furthermore, for a war on water, there's surprisingly little account of coping with a water shortage, or using water-based substitutes, which would be vastly interesting. Instant powdered foods would have to be rethought without any water additives in them. Army showers are generally timed to make the most of their limited two-minute use - dampen the skin down, then apply soap, then rinse. Hand sanitizers while clean, aren't as effective as good old soap & water.
There's talk of the War of 1812 where Canada fought against the US and won, but no mention of any of the tactics they used. One particularly memorable anecdote is that before the White House was burned down, soldiers verified that the place was empty, but the President's dinner was ready. At which point they started devouring the contents of the table and wine shelves. When everything was eaten and drunk, the Captain said "My compliments to the cook!" before setting fire to the place.
In the event that the US (or another country) tries to invade us again, we've got various fail-safes set in place. Our bridges are designed to be blown apart at a moment's notice, which may explain our crumbling infrastructures, because they were never intended to remain standing for so long. (There's been years of corruption tied to our construction industry for this very reason) Not that our spaghetti highways are easy to navigate in the first place, but why make it easy for our enemies?
So, how does this story start out by going into the great Canada/US divide? By going into a blatant historical screed of Superman. As interesting as the backstory of the founding background of Metropolis is, it feels somewhat out of place for what amounts to a border civil war. One could say that the major difference between the creators of Batman and Superman was that Bob Kane knew how to manipulate the American Comic business to his whims, and Sigel and Shuster didn't.
The reason We Stand on Guard rings false is that it's more of a political metaphor for the Iraq War than a commentary on the political divisions between two superficially similar countries. Pretty much any stories about the past or future are cautionary allegories for what's happening in the present, but they should also be an examination of how such rash decisions could potentially be avoided. It's been suggested Brian K. Vaughan's stories are reflections of his inability to get over 9-11, and that certainly seems to be the case here.
Too much of We Stand on Guard's attention is focused on the jingoist fantasy appeal of a small rebellious group banding together to overthrow a corrupt government. That setup relies and feeds on the lie that a band of trained outcasts can somehow stand up to overthrow a corrupt government. A government that has access to unlimited supplies. And loads of high-tech weaponry. And elite men willing to follow orders. Which could be safely executed miles away from their position. Their resources would vastly overwhelm any potential outlaws. And that's before the government'd get the media on their side. The fantasy that one determined man can make a difference by waving their magic gun in the direction of their oppressors will make all their potential problems go away is a seductive one. (Not that Americans tried to take their country back by force when Bush Jr. was in charge)
It also conveniently overlooks the fact that Canadians invaders could easily pass themselves off as Americans by simply aping their patriotic appeal while firing guns in the air, and using that as a pretext for buying more ammunition. (Of course, it would have to be white people getting ammo, since other races would be frowned upon, and draw too much attention) The challenge would be in presenting authentic forged documents to buy said ammo, though that wouldn't be too much of an obstacle, given how free Americans are about their gun rights. What WOULD be more interesting would've been for said bunch is if they had to rationalize on their dwindling sources, and how to make the most use of every remaining bullet effectively.
The inverse would be less than true, since American spies trying to ape themselves as Canadians without prior knowledge would be easily caught using a variation of the Rick Mercer report. Rather than try to convince us of their heritage via trivia (naming the Prime Minister, Provinces & Territories), give them the task of creating an igloo or canoe. If they seem more eager than reluctant to the task, call them out on it. (If they're heavily versed in wilderness living, see the extent of their knowledge, and whether they differ between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts)
A. Sure! I'll get right on it. B. Are you MAD?! I don't know beans about doing that! Never learned how! C. Well, the surrounding material's all wrong for that, but if that's what you want... D. This is how I've always done it. What's wrong with it?
Alternately, it could be a case of two sides feeling each other out, and avoiding answering potentially loaded questions.
"What's your favorite Hockey team? The Raptors or the Expos?" (Basketball and Baseball)
"I don't really follow sports."
"Well, what's your favorite Canadian TV program?"
"I much more prefer the American stuff."
"Me too. Any show in particular you like so far?"
"Well, there's (insert futuristic show title here)."
"I haven't seen it, but heard good things. How'd you see it?"
"Same as anybody - illegal downloads."
"Yeah? Which server do you use?"
"The same as anybody else's."
"You got an address?"
"DomainNameDotCom"
"...Com?"
"I mean Ca."
If we wanted to make this an ideological war, we could intentionally target potentially problematic generals who have a long history of sending their soldiers into suicide missions. Intentionally removing these obstacles would spread confusion among the American ranks, since our deliberate targeting would operate under the pretext of "Don't make us hurt you." However, chances are they could interpret this Canadian message as being "weak", and come after us in greater force. At which point we'd have no choice but to retaliate in kind.
To stand a better chance against the Americans, we should pair up with Australians (another widely underestimated / caricatured country), since history has shown that when teamed up, they wind up vastly intimidating the enemy. "Woe betide any who fight against us." If that's not our motto, it SHOULD be.
"The U.S.A. is the antagonist of this story, but Steve [Skroce] and I never wanted to portray them as two-dimensional, mustache-twirling villains." - Brian K. Vaughan
Despite assurances that he wanted to portray sympathetic flawed representations of both sides, the US wound up being political strawmen after all. It's probably difficult to accurately portray a Socialist society when you've been raised up in a Capitalist society, convinced that all Americans have the right to Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, and you're up against a country whose less-than-catchy motto is Peace, Order and Good Government. The thing is, Socialism isn't a bad thing when done properly.
It doesn't help that he's harping on old traits he's already familiar with. The sensitive issues that're raised up are already outdated by the time they hit print (using holographic fireboarding in place of waterboarding) despite the fact that it's been proven that torture tactics don't work for gaining accurate information from resistant soldiers unwilling to give up their sources.
A better analogy would be how purer water sources are reserved for the very rich, and polluted dirty water is outletted to poorer regions. Then blame could be outsourced to Northern outsiders having access to wider expanses of cleaner water as a way of diverting attention away from the actual perpetrators of the crime. Some corporations have even gone so far as to hold their water reserves hostage until their customers pony up enough money to sample their wares. Privatizing water they claim, is a monopoly, not a human right. Even collecting wellwater or rainwater is frowned upon and against the law in certain states, because that water is "someone else's property", so it needs to be dumped for vague reasons. Especially upsetting is how Nestle drained water not just from poor countries, but also various US states and one Canada Province as well. The previous Harper government gave Nestle unlimited permission to pump as much water from Hillsburgh, Ontario, upon which they "pay $3.71 for every million litres of water it pumps... which it then... sells back to the public for as much as $2 million.", making a 53,908,255% profit.
There were so many potentially interesting avenues that could've been taken, and they were all squandered away for a typical feel-bad story. Brian K. Vaughan suffers from the same problems and weaknesses as Naoki Urasawa. Both authors are both great at spinning yarns that have attention-grabbing cliffhangers, but have remarkably weak endings to all that buildup. They're not as bad as Stephen King, whose overwritten horror prose is fraught with too much build-up, and not enough payoff, but it's just as annoying. If anything, it's another exercise for wasted potential.
While Canadians have managed to succeed with underwhelming weapons against overwhelming odds, chances are still high that we would still fail the instant Americans start getting serious about overtaking us.
"Please. The odds are clearly stacked up against us. It's just a matter of time before we're fed some misinformation, or we're rushed by soldiers who happened to catch a pattern or reading we failed to notice."
"If you're so dubious about our chances of success, why are you standing up for a belief you don't even believe in?"
"HMM! Good question. That's a very good question!"
(Long pause)
(Even longer protracted silence)
"Sir?"
"If you're expecting an answer, you're going to be disappointed."
It's not that we're vehemently opposed to their ideology (though America-bashing is practically a national pastime over here, finely tuned to an art form), we just disagree with how they handle most of their internal policies. A country operating over the impetus that anyone can be what they strive to be, doesn't mean much if a certain entitled demographic vastly outpaces 99% of the other living citizens. We look at how they've handled things, and feel (and know) that we could do better. It's Socialism Vs. Capitalism, but through the lens that "Socialism isn't bad when done right." Capitalism's been ruling the US policy for decades, and how well has it worked out for people not in the top 1%? It doesn't help that our identity is continuously squashed by our boisterous louder neighbors constantly vying for attention.
The irony is, the US and Canada are similar enough to the extent where usage of "We're not that different, you and me", would be put to perfect use. The closest we came to a successful Canada Vs. the US parody was Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon. Sadly, the scaremongering newscast was the best part of the movie. Once you've seen that, don't bother with the rest.
Maybe someday we'll have a worthy satirical takedown of our tenuous relationship with our Southern neighbors filled with pathos, but not today.
*The Conservative Party's last straw was probably the intended dismantling of postal service to the protest of many (including a mayor who took a jackhammer to one), in favor of community mailboxes... that to add insult to injury, were custom made in the US, and were unacclimated to the cold, resulting in frozen boxes.
Every November around this time of year, I pay tribute to what's generally accepted as being the best World War I comic, Charley's War. Trouble is, it gets harder and harder to say the same thing all the time. "This comic's really great! you should read it!" There's only so many times you can heavily recommend a singular thematic comic before potentially interested parties become turned off at your enthusiasm. This year, I figured I might as well put a spotlight to other comics that have their focus on The Great War.
The first book is the most direct with its title, Terrorist: Gavrilo Princip, the Assassin who Ignited World War I. We know that the trigger for WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but surprisingly not much about the man who did the killing that had similar world-shaking implications as Lee Harvey Oswald. If you've ever wondered about what the man's internal thoughts were that spurred him to such an action, then this book's for you. Especially since as a prelude, there's several historical similarities still relevant today.
In TGPtAwIWWI, we find that Gavrilo was a Bosnian Serb who was a school dropout with great pride in his heritage. He tried to apply for the army to fight for a war on Turkey (the Turks) but was turned down due to his persistent cough. Feeling discontent, he fell in with a crowd of radicalized anarchists who wanted to overthrow the crown. Any of this sound familiar?
There's information not only on the killer, but an occasional spotlight on political background dealings in trying to deal with the rather aloof mindset of the Emperor, who's more concerned over his trivial affairs than international politics. Somewhat shades of Mrs. Simpson and the King.
To amp up the tension of the inevitable, the government secret service is ordered to halt the assassination, despite instigating it, since the country's condition was delicate and still recuperating after two wars. You heard right - they were stirring up their own populace in order to spur on future profitable conflicts. You can see how well that plan worked out for them.
When you're surrounded by death and destruction and unreasonable chains of command, for some reason, it spurs the creative juices something awful. Above the Dreamless Dead is an anthology of WWI Poetry drawn by various British artists.
While the most amusing (and rude) ones are by Hunt Emerson, the majority of the book is of somber ruined battlefields and wounded (physically & mentally) soldiers. As such, it's something of an acquired taste, and may not be for everyone.
Last year, I mentioned The Black Battalion, a group of Blacks who fought in the War, but there was another regiment of that's almost been lost to history - The Harlem Hellfighters. Written by Max Brooks, best known for World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, he did meticulous research from the scant few available articles that bothered to mention them. After failing to attract any prospective Hollywood directors (including Spike Lee!) who were interested, but didn't want to invest into a heavily-Black cast with disturbing racial overtones, he eventually found a reasonable outlet in the form of comics. Normally, failed Hollywood pitches turned into comics are little more than Die-Hard ripoffs, but this was something worth spreading to the masses.
The Harlem Hellfighters chronicles the ugly history of the highly reputed Black regiment who fought in the trenches during the war. But before they could reach the harsh conditions of the Front, they had to contend with the unfair conditions of back home where they were stymied at every turn including training, which necessitated no small amount of trickery in order to get the parts they needed.
Hollywood puts plenty of stock in rooting for the underdog, and indeed, these men had to overcome overwhelming trials. Being constantly harassed by the white public (and even Black labourers) for daring to think they were good enough to join the army. Having to keep stiff upper lips during repeat burnings of mock effigies... with actual Blacks standing in for the effigies. Furthermore, they couldn't exact any righteous vengeance, since reprisal on their part meant that they would be disbarred from entering the War. The whole humiliating experience was aimed at a race who were never intended to succeed in the first place, fighting for a country that didn't want them. Ironically enough, while they were welcomed as an assistance in the Western Front, the top brass (from America) decreed new orders for the battalions not to socialize with their allies, lest they become "too accustomed to being accepted as an equal". Fine way to treat Black soldiers who joined up for "a chance to shoot white men".
...that probably didn't come out the way I intended.
It's now the 100th anniversary of the First World War, also known as The Great War, or The War to End all Wars, and what better way to commemorate the memory of those who fought in that prelude than reading Charley's War? Titan Books finished the Pat Mills run with the 10th volumeThe End last year, and are offering an omnibus collection of the first three books to allow seeing the Somme in all its gory glory. As with every time around this time of year, you can see a brief once-a-year low-res download of the first arc, which is gone now.
Two years ago, I paid tribute to an ancient relic of the war - the horse. This year, I might as well showcase another overlooked contributor to the war:
It seems important to bring up Black people at a time when white people all up over arms about an alternate take of Cinderella as portrayed by Black actors, even though Cinderella's name comes from being coated with cinder ashes. Not to mention outraged comic fans outright threatening Black Cosplayers daring to dress as regularly white characters. The most extreme example being the fatal shooting of a Cosplayer dressed as the main character from Samurai Champloo. Then there's the Hollywood sin of whitewashing characters who were originally from other countries and darker skins, and having them portrayed by actors with heavy makeup instead of branching out and actually finding budding unknowns looking for a big break.
The closest Charley's War gets to portraying other races is during the battle of Verdun with the unfair treatment of the Sengalese Africans, who were basically little more than cannon fodder.
The army rebel, Blue, attempted to override his superior's commands by getting word to the commander, but the only words that got through were some high-sensitive information of great importance, which consisted of "Make sure your buttons are sewn on properly."
Disgusted, Blue and his friends defy orders in order to help support the Africans from being slaughtered.
Of course, Blue winds up stealing the show, which isn't too surprising, since he was loosely modeled off Jack Nicholson. The hijacking of the Black man's plight by the enlightened White man is nothing new. In order to appease to the masses, they've had to swipe away charismatic Black's chance in the spotlight in favor of safe and comfortable White spokesmen, since executives believe that audiences can't possibly identify with ethnic characters that look differently from us. Such short-sightedness has led to instances such as Winston Zeddmore being a late addition to Ghostbusters instead of being there at the beginning.
I greatly identified with children in books and movies who looked like me. Why is it so hard to convince others that having more racial variety in main characters would be greatly beneficial to under-utilized audiences that are grossly overlooked? It's not a difficult conclusion to reach to. Apparently, we can suspend disbelief when it comes to flying wizards and Russian Unicorns, but having a well-rounded Black protagonist is considered too unrealistic.
This is just to give a minor note to a little known contributor to Canada's Great War - The No. 2 Construction Battalion. Better known as the Black Battalion, they were made up entirely of Black people, (but had white supervisors) who were implemented at a time when their efforts were looked down as little more than interferers in a "White Man's war". Ironically enough, Blacks wanted to join the army to help their country, but were turned down simply because they weren't white.
Their efforts were not so much involved in actual combat as it was for laying down the foundation for advancing troops, such as laying down barbed wire and constructing bridges. Actions which brought them in direct line of fire from the enemy, and without any weapons, save their shovels. They not only had to worry about disease and enemy fire, but also (un)friendly fire from less than receptive soldiers who grudgingly didn't want to admit their helpfulness. The only reason we even know about the 2nd Batallion is because of the written diary entries of Captain William White, the army chaplain, who recorded the events for posterity. Founded in 1916, the second Battalion was disbanded in either 1918 or 1920, leaving it as a minor footnote in history.
The actions of the Battalion were so underscored that when brought up to attention by High-ranking Canadian Military Officers, they said they'd never heard of them before. And these weren't rank amateurs - they'd been in the military all their lives. There's a bio-historical movie Honour Before Glory, based on these events that aired on the CBC in 2001 that's making a comeback. Sadly, the lack of available resources means I can't give a concise summary of events, let alone recommend it for viewable watching. Some historical representation of Canadian history is either overly schmaltzy or downright depressing, leaving little chance of repeat viewings.
The irony of espousing the need for diversity while being unable to accurately portray the plight of undervalued members of society is not lost on me.
A page from The Breath of Wendigo gives this little factoid:
It is estimated that over 12,000 North American Natives fought in the Allied Forces during the First World War. However, the US Government had yet to grant them full Citizenship.
It's Veterans Day once again, which means it's time for my annual Charley's War tribute. Titan publishing has managed to complete their collection of Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun with the 10th collection appropriately titled The End. There was rumours of collecting the second half with Scott Goodall doing the writing, but with a title as definite as that, it sounds like interest wasn't high enough to guarantee sales for the second half.
So it's likely that any chance of the Goodall stories won't be seeing the light of day. As disappointing as that sounds, it's probably for the best. Pat Mills original intention was that the continuation of Charley's War would follow the exploits of World War II through Charley's son (who would also be named Charley - a kind of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure kind of thing) but editorial interference denied him of that, and apart from the first three episodes, the rest of the WWII adventures fell into Scott Goodall's hands. To further twist the knife, Charley's son was named Len, so out went that opportunity, which meant that Charley was forced to go back into the war as a veteran in order to find his missing son, leading to a recursive history where Charley wonders (quite redundantly) how all this warmongering began, looping back to the beginning of the story.
Without Pat Mill's research, the overall exploits of Charley's new adventures felt somewhat lacking. While Joe Colquhoun's artwork was as striking as ever, the magic behind the script was gone. I'd heard that the later stories were more adventure based, but having read so many anti-war propaganda, I was unaware of what a pro-war comic would be like. Apparently, it was akin to a typical action comic with little or no attachment to reality involved. (Often involving fisticuffs in a world of tanks and riffles)
Even so, that didn't stop a few gems from showing up here and there. Here's a list of what I consider to be the highlights of the weaker half of Charley's War.
With Captain Snell gone, there would have been ample opportunity for a new commanding foil to make their appearance. There was the war-crazed Bert Nickles who was rumoured to have a glass eye, but couldn't be discharged on lack of proof.
But I felt more partial to the British soldier who treated war like a inconvenience while concentrating on games of cricket. Another carryover from the Great War where there were actual officers who were more preoccupied with their pastimes than engaging in the distracting war which "would be over anytime now." 3. A "Handy" Man
One thing that Pat Mills was quite successful at was building up a roster of secondary characters who would periodically pop up in the narrative and then be taken out just as suddenly. The most memorable soldier was Smith Seventy (since there were so many Smiths in the war they were assigned by number) with his trademark "Bit technical, know what I mean?"
Goodall's perchance for creating secondary characters was less based on realistic affirmation of life in the battlefield and more preposterous caricatures exaggerated to a large degree. The most notable early example would be Handy Smith, a soldier whose defining trait was hands larger than the average man. Here, we see the results of having MAN-man hands. Eventually, he went out in a similar way that Mad Mick did in the Somme, which goes to show how much blatant mining of Pat's ideas was done here. 2. Bill Tozer's Assistance
One of the things that made Charley's War stand out was not just limited to showing life on the battlefield, but also showing events happening at the home front. Cousin Oiley appeared sporadically through Charley's War as a cowardly profit-monger who would take advantage of any dirty deal that could be made, no matter how small. Likewise, Charley's sergeant Bill Tozer was a rough-and-tumble military man who would lord it hard over his men, but also know when to turn a blind eye to unfair bureaucracy. So when Charley's wife was unjustly framed for a trafficking crime she didn't commit, it was up to Charley's retired officer to help out in his absence. Naturally, this led to the confrontation between a snake salesman and a drill sergeant which ended in the only way it could - through a fistfight. This meeting between two unlikely people also relieved some pent-up frustration from seeing the slimy relative get some sense of justice. For some reason, we can't feel satisfaction until we see jerks get punched in the face.
1. Hortense Flaubert: War Widow
In a typical war comic, it's a safe guarantee that there'll pretty much be a low content of women involved, unless they're prostitutes, high ranking lieutenants, or mistreated citizens.
So it was somewhat of a surprising subversion that we got the intimidating figure of a large woman who managed to overpower the enemy by sheer determination and strength alone. Having plenty of guns and ammunition in her cupboard didn't hurt either.
She was easily my favorite part of the Goodall-written stories so far, even as her abilities and manners remained totally outlandish.
She was easily the most memorable character to date, and much like Fiona Brass in For Better or for Worse, she left too soon in order not to draw too much attention away from the central characters. A pity. She was enough of a presence to deserve her own series.
