I hate Max Brooks. He has destroyed something I really
liked, and looks to be set on destroying a second thing I really like.
In the first case he ruined zombies. I used to be a big
zombie fan, back when it was a really niche thing and was actually cool. Then
Brooks writes his survival guide, and zombies become as popular as Brittany Spears.
If I never read another bad zombie novel
I will be a happy man.
So having ruined zombies for us all, Brooks is now set on
ruining WW1. And in specific the Harlem Hellfighters. Unable to get a script on them produced, he
writes a comic book about them, sorry that's "graphic novel" even
thought it isn’t a novel. I am sure that
now everyone and their buddy will start to become "experts in the unit,
and the war. The day after publication
he sold the screenplay, and it is now 'soon to be a major motion picture.'
In all truthfulness I did not care for "The Harlem Hellfighters." On one hand I really didn't like the art.
Some of it was awkward, and I'm sorry but a chauchat with cut off butt stock
being fired one handed by a Frenchman with one eye was just too much for
me. There's enough visual faux paws in
it that I wish he had run t by someone that actually knew something about the
period first.
But more so I don’t care for things that are "based on a
true story" and then make up characters or create scenes that probably didn’t
happen. The truth, especially with these guys, is great enough.
After having read an interview in which he talks about how
much research he did, and how this is all accurate. Of course there is
accurate, and there is accurate. Of course a lot of folks in the WW1 Army were prejudiced.
Of course some folks wanted the blacks
to fail. But there are aspects to the story that are left out. Like the famous
jazz band refusing to enlist until a bunch of rich people donated enough money
that they could be paid their normal 'musician' salary.
It's not mentioned that the main reason the division was
broken up and spread around the French army is that they were not a full
division: they were essentially four infantry regiments with none of the
supports unit. Of course that's because some
folks did not think the black man could handle the mental gymnastics of modern
artillery fire or engineering, but still – that just makes it a more
interesting story.
And of course, in at least one interview, he says that John
Pershing wrote the infamous "don’t be nice to black troops" memo. Which
to my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, was written without being
cleared by above by a staff officer, and Pershing was not very happy about it. Seeing
as how he had commanded and respected black troops before.
I'll admit I just got kind of bored and fed up by the end
part, so I skimmed it. Maybe I missed something, but there are other items of
'race value' that were not mentioned. I was particularly disappointed by how Henry
Johnson's run in with the MP' was handled. So in short, I think real WW1 guys
will not care too much for it, but it will suck up a lot of those that were not
interested before; for good or bad.
Now, can someone help
me cut back my chauchat so I can show up as a bearded French liaison officer with an
eye patch and charge the Huns with it in a blaze of glory?
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