Anti-War Comics
It was from these underground comics that the criticism of the war in Vietnam would emerge in comic form. The anti-war comic books that began coming out during the late 60s showed a far different side of the war and America. Blazing Combat released but Warren Publishing was a strict opponent to the romanticism that other comics had placed on Americas military history and its attachments to Vietnam. The comic that was part of EC Comics magazine, was one of the first to show that the war in Vietnam was decidedly different than those that had come before it. In the first issue dealing with the Vietnam War the author Archie Goodwin chose to show depictions of the South Vietnamese army that were just as brutal as the depictions of communist forces. James Warren the man who published the magazine was a very critical member of society modeled his magazine after other publications at the time like Playboy Who were marketing magazines to the 20 something young men.[1] He took a controversial stance on many subjects but most of all was the Vietnam war long before the general feeling of the country would shift against the war
The first issue of Blazing Combat includes a tale of a member of the American Special forces who leads South Vietnamese forces on a raid against the VietCong. After a bloody battle in a small village where the enemy escapes. The soldier begins to question if he has made any progress for the lives he has lost under his command. the author uses this reflection of the soldier to expose a side of the anti-war sentiment in America.
[1] Scott, Cord A., "Comics and Conflict " (2011), 141.
As these ant war comics began to take shape, they also found their voices and found particular criticisms and specific issue on which to build their protests. Scott points to Julian Bond’s Vietnam: An Anti-War Tale from 1967 as a prime example of this change. This comic was again part of the underground comics trend from the late 60s. the comic tried to focus on the role African Americans in Vietnam and America during this period. Bond the author and a well known civil-rights activist used this book to engage young black men to question the role of American wars and why they were fighting if they were treated as second class. Bond evoked many civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to show the opposition to war in the black community and try to get young black men to question reasons why they were fighting and also question American colonialism and its interactions in the world.