Ten-hut! Look sharp, soldier! We're surrounded by hypocrisy and paranoia, and David Rees says it's time for you to Get Your War On.
Don:
Hmm, a Republican sweep in the mid-term elections. A war on terror that punishes American citizens who just don't fit in on 1950s sitcoms. Snipers. I gotta tell ya, I'm rather pleased I'm not an American. From my outsider perspective, it's easy to take the high ground, and I'm pleased to see that some Americans -- like David Rees -- have chosen to do so as well.
And now I pass the mic to my American friend...
Randy:
How odd is it that we agree that the Republican sweep was a dark day, that the war on terror is a joke that gets less funny and more scary every day, and that the sniper was some f-ed up stuff, and yet we disagree so entirely on whether or not it's good to be an American or how good Get Your War On was?
Get Your War On
published by Soft Skull Press
written by David Rees
Don:
A series of co-workers and friends discuss the insanity that is the new America. Collapsing trade towers, anthrax, home security, bombs and bullshit. As they struggle to incorporate the weirdness into their daily lives, a new hero appears to ease their fears. And that hero is... Voltron?
OK, the above synopsis really isn't all that accurate, mainly because it is a synopsis. There's no real plot at work here. This is more of a series of political cartoon strips... envisioned by a mind as perceptive and filthy as George Carlin's. Rees, like many Americans and non-Americans alike, is immersed in fear and outrage, and he's dealing with it by laughing at the bizarre events that have unfolded over the past 14 months.
Randy:
He may be, but I'm afraid that I'm not. Laughing, that is. Don't get me wrong, I can get the funny and the angry at the same time; I get it just about every night with Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. And I'll agree with you that his mind is as filthy as George Carlin in his prime, if not filthier... there's not a single strip here that goes without some kind of curse word. But as perceptive? Beg to differ here, my Canadian friend; Rees is aiming for easy targets and hitting them with jabs that range from the obvious to the nonsensical. The only thing that raised a chuckle was the odd juxtaposition of 80s icon Voltron and political commentary that sounded like it came from a CNN analyst with Tourette's Syndrome.
Don:
This is a comic-book review site, and this is a graphic novel, of sorts. But it's not like most. Visually, Rees expresses himself through clip art. It's all pretty static, but its ordinary nature says something. These characters all look like they're lifted from 1970s suburbia, and by using them, Rees points out how bombing in Afghanistan actually affects someone living in Brooklyn or Ogalla, Nebraska or San Francisco.
Randy:
I think calling this a graphic novel is something of a misnomer. I didn't really think the clip art expressed anything about the various residents of the United States, unless all the residents stand in the same position, wear the same clothes and have the same frozen expression all the time. OK, Dick Cheney, maybe, but not all of us.
Don:
Mind you, Rees uses a limited amount of clip art, and it gets awfully repetitive. He plays with it a little bit, making his own changes to the static visuals, but it's not enough to keep it fresh from cover to cover. And I'm guessing there was a special on red ink at the printer's; I think it would have worked better in simple black-and-white.
Randy:
And finally we get to a point of agreement. I'm writing this in black text on a white screen, and it looks wrong to me, because that red is just burned into my brain. Perhaps the red was supposed to stand out more, to make the comments seem even more caustic, but it mostly succeeded in giving me a headache.
Don:
In Get Your War On, Rees says important things, explores hyprocrisy and contradictions that should be painfully obvious to the public. But as the recent elections proved, it's not obvious enough, I guess.
Excuse me, I have to go read my hate mail now.
Randy:
Promise to read mine first?
For more information on Soft Skull Press, visit
