The Vietnam War

"Perhaps this is how, eventually, children will explore and come to know the past, through the reductive balancing act known as the 'graphic history.' There have been other graphic histories on other wars, but it must have been especially challenging to portray the Vietnam years with all their complexities, to convey not only how we became entangled in such a war and how we ultimately left it, but how we felt about it then and how we feel about it today. Zimmerman and Vansant do a memorable job, and when they feel their subject becoming too unwieldy for illustration and dialogue, they create text-only primers at the bottom of the page (mostly they contain background on the draft, the role of the news media and such major players as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara or Gen. William Westmoreland). The result is a painstaking and even-handed tour of the politics and the strategic mistakes, the battles and the protests, the lives lost and the lessons learned."—The Arizona Republic

 

"The Vietnam War: A Graphic History is out now, and I hope you run out to pick it up along with Wasteland. Like most everyone born in the '70s, I grew up in the shadow of the Vietnam War. It was discussed very often. It was understood (by me) very little. This book has not only answered so many questions for me, but it has encapsulated the entire scope of the war into such easily digested segments without ever once feeling pedantic. I’m loving it for being so ambitious and respecting it for accomplishing it with such aplomb. I would have that what writer Dwight Jon Zimmerman and artist Wayne Vansant have done would be incredibly difficult, but they make it look quite easy . . . Highly recommended."—John Hogan, Graphic Novel Reporter

"Boy, talk about setting yourself up for a no-win scenario. If the U.S. weren't currently embroiled in Iraq, you'd find few Americans who’d argue—whether they supported it or not—that the Vietnam War is the single most contentious conflict in the history of U.S. military actions. Tackling the history of that conflict in a fair and even manner simply isn't possible in 140 pages . . . At the open, Zimmerman focuses effectively on the influence of the Cold War and Lyndon Johnson's tenuous arrival in the Oval Office following John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The political thorn bushes—the so-called domino theory of Communism's global threat, the U.S. military's inability to cross the DMZ, and the 'neutrality' of the Ho Chi Minh Trail—are all laid out clearly and without overt judgment . . . Wayne Vansant's powerful illustrations capture the necessary likenesses of the historical figures, and his solid visual storytelling keeps all the dates, personnel, locations and technology in order. Using maps and other visual aids, Vansant keeps readers enmeshed in the unfolding timeline, and his gritty illustrations suit the mood and struggle of the soldiers mired down in the conflict . . . Zimmerman's solid scripting and Vansant's powerful illustrations keep it much closer to the bulls eye than The Vietnam War: A Graphic History had much right to be.  It’s a broad overview of a war with a million individual perspectives, and taken as such, the book works very well as a summary of the Vietnam experience."—Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

“I’ve waited years for a graphic novel like this—an historic account of the Vietnam War—and Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Wayne Vansant expertly deliver it! Over the years pop culture has dealt with Vietnam artistically, mainly in film, offering personalized perspectives of this troubling time. The Vietnam War: A Graphic History instead is focused on the facts, and the actual war itself—which is an incredibly gripping tale. With the state of the world today, the lessons of Vietnam are more relevant than ever before, making The Vietnam War: A Graphic History a must-read graphic novel for all ages!”—Jim Salicrup, Papercutz Editor-in-Chief and Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Trustee