A review of The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Caanan White
The Harlem Hellfighters
By Max Brooks and Caanan White
“A fictionalized account of the 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I” is a fascinating foray into comic books for the zombie writer himself, Max Brooks. Now he plies his trade into a moving account of some real heroes of World War I that should never have been forgotten.
Brooks weaves a tale of fighting in the trenches in Europe while struggling with racial tensions still at home in America. If anything, Brooks does an amazing job of showing the infinite diversity among all cultures, black or white. The heroism of these men against these insane circumstances is a testimony to all men, and all will learn an important bit of history along the way.
White does an amazing job with black and white illustrations and every panel is worth lingering over. Personally, I like the choice of black and white to highlight the war atmosphere, but I feel that color would widen this book’s audience. I may be mistaken in this.
This is still Brooks’ first incursion into comic books. He even admits in the afterword that this started as a screenplay and I can sense the cinematic aspects. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish characters, and there are scene shifts that are difficult to follow at times. In that essence, the comic does not flow well, the reader having to backtrack to make sure of the characters, location and time. This would hardly be felt in a movie, with recognizable actors and segue ways being better clues for the audience, rather than just a new comic panel without a text box explaining the shift. Again, this may just be my preference, but I did think as I was reading this that it would make a much better movie than comic, which is still saying that the story was fantastic and actually deserves more. An upgrade, if you will.
After reading, I feel a scarcity of my own knowledge of this war and its heroes. Some research is in order, in history and even in music. But that is what makes a fantastic book, one way or another. When completed, if the reader clamors for more any way he or she can get it, that is what makes for a great read.
"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."
See the original press release from the publisher
Read a conversation with Max Brooks
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