SOLDIER STORIES

On comic book shop shelves this Veterans Day is a one-shot collection of stories created by veterans who are aspiring authors paired with professional artists. SOLDIER STORIES from Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, is an anthology taking examples of real-life warfare reimagined to be told in a variety of genres including sci-fi, horror and personal memoir. These four military tales are written by veterans who served in conflicts ranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan. I picked up a copy for myself while perusing the new comic books that were out this week.

The SOLDIER STORIES in this comic book include the horror genre "All Clear" written by Megan Ferrell Burke with art by Arture Lauria. This story pits soldiers against one another after a squad survives a chemical attack but finds itself short on the gear needed for everyone to make it safely to a rendezvous point for extraction. Brian Anthony shares the perils of interpreters that help foreign forces in their homelands from a science fiction angle. His story "Terps" features artwork by John Bivens.

Jalysa Conway makes readers ponder if utilizing military drones makes killing too easy and desensitized to being like playing a video game. Her editorial "Game Over" features art by Annapaola Martello. "The Great Man" by Reverend William Bellamy shares an autobiographical moment of a man who goes from battling in Vietnam to fighting discrimination in America. Unfortunately, Rev. Bellamy passed away before this comic book reached publication, but his story lives on through the people who read it. 

SOLDIER STORIES came about when novelist and screenplay writer Ken Pisani served as an instructor for a Writers Guild of America workshop for veterans. He pitched a partnership between Top Cow Publications and the United States Veterans Artists Alliance which resulted in the SOLDIER STORIES comic book. Pisani created a writers room where Anthony, Burke, Bellamy, and Conway worked together to cultivate their stories with some help from his mentoring. The writers then worked with artists from Top Cow Publications to combine their words with illustrations to be published as the comic book on store shelves now.

It made for a nice Veterans Day read. I'm glad I picked up SOLDIER STORIES to bring home with me. Whether you are geeked about military adventures or are just looking for something out of the ordinary to read, SOLDIER STORIES is a comic book you should check out.  A nice reminder that the comic book medium is so much more than just superheroes and monsters. It is art and literature as well as the effort and experiences of people like these four veterans who want to entertain and educate people with the stories they tell through comic books.