Daddy Mojo reads: Sgt. Rock, The Lost Battalion

As a kid I didn’t read St. Rock often.  A friend of mine had a big stash of war and western comics, like Weird War, Sgt. Rock and Jonah Hex; while I had Spiderman and Superman.  Mine were more mainstream and my friends’ comics had a historic feel like you were looking back at real events in time.

Sgt. Rock was the personification of a Sergeant in World War II.  He wasn’t a certain individual and is a work of fiction, but many military veterans said that they served with somebody like him.  Sgt. Rock ended his comic book run in 1988 and I understand why.  War isn’t sexy, it’s a brutal, savage thing, and while wars were still happening in the late 80’s, the style of warfare had changed dramatically.

The Lost Battalion is based on the true story of the 141rst Infantry who were going through the Vosges Mountains in the north of France.  On October 24, 1944 they were surrounded and outnumbered by the German forces.  They spent six days dug into deep trenches, experienced massive losses and had two failed rescue attempts.  The third rescue attempt was successful and conducted by the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team.  The 442 is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

As a graphic novel this is an amazing story.  It’s beautifully illustrated with soft, muted colors that you’d find in a late fall mountainous region.  Partially because it’s a true story you can feel the emotion in the words and pictures.    Hundreds died in this battle and hundreds more were wounded.  When you see a character get shot you know it’s just a picture, but you also know that it represents one of the hundreds that did get killed that day.

Billy Tucci illustrated The Lost Battalion.  His artwork is very distinctive and comic fans will remember his work from Shi.  He traveled overseas to research the story, interviewed dozens of survivors and it really shows in his drawings.  There is so much respect that is conveyed on each page.  He’s not gratuitously drawing scenes of violence.   He’s telling a piece of history.

Sgt. Rock, The Lost Battalion came out in 2009, but we just discovered it at our local library.  It’s an amazing graphic novel that fans of war comics need to read if they haven’t already.