Writers: Steve Cuzor & Stephen Crane
Artist: Steve Cuzor
Letterer: Vitro Hache
Translator: Montana Kane
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Price: $19.99
Release Date: May 14, 2025
Eighteen-year-old Henry Fleming works on his mother's farm. His mother relies on him to help her plow the fields and tend the animals. With the southern states abandoning the United States, tending a patch of land seems a paltry endeavor compared with reuniting his country. But his mother needs him. What can he accomplish as a raw recruit, anyway? Is Henry important to his country? Or is he just a naïve idealist searching for meaning in his life? Let's grab our rifles, leap into The Red Badge Of Courage GN, and find out!
Story
After joining up, Henry sits in camp and goes out on maneuvers. He peels potatoes like he did on his mother's front porch. Finally, his friend announces that they're going into battle. His fellow soldiers wonder if Jim Conklin's scuttlebutt is true. But this is the chance Henry was waiting for. Now, if he sees the battle through, he can live a life of significance.
Yet there’s more to winning than enthusiasm and idealism in Steve Cuzor’s retelling of Stephen Crane's novel. As they prepare for battle, a fellow soldier presses letters for home into Henry's hands. Wilson believes he will die today in The Red Badge of Courage GN.
When battle commences, Henry's superiors bark conflicting orders before bullets and cannonballs take them down. Smoke fills the air, obscuring his fellow soldiers and the enemy. Henry follows his comrades' retreat, only to end up alone in the woods. Now he feels like a deserter, not the soldier heaped in honors he hoped to become.
The Red Badge of Courage GN portrays the Battle of Chancellorsville through Henry’s eyes. Confusion reigns as his poorly trained company charges into battle. Their general observes the battle from far away, moving his companies like a gambler playing craps. Even nature mocks Henry as Union cavalry threatens to mow down the stumbling wounded.
More than once, his mother's insistence that the South is more than a match for the North comes back to him. Henry realizes that he has little choice but to see the slaughter through in The Red Badge of Courage GN. Yet on the eve of this battle, one of the "enemy" offered him advice on how to survive the war.
Art
Steve Cuzor’s detailed art conveys the realism of Stephen Crane’s novel. Despite the valiant spirit of Henry and his comrades, Cuzor presents an unglamorous depiction of battle. Every fold in the men's uniforms and tents contrasts with the rugged, untamed land surrounding them. Shadows and darkness remind us that night offered few light sources except campfires. Panels focus on the people fighting on both sides of this conflict, while specks of dust swarm through the air amid battles. Bullets tear through people, producing a tiny plume of speckled ink, while explosions tear apart silhouettes.
While people remember the political causes of this war, The Red Badge Of Courage GN focuses on the soldiers charging through panels with their rifles and bayonets. Although other colors occasionally intrude, shades of green dominate the monocolored panels that pack the pages. No Black soldiers serve alongside those fighting and dying for their contrasting ideals. Yet before the Northerners head into battle, a black minstrel perches atop a barrel of gunpowder playing his fiddle for smiling white soldiers.
Vitro Hache populates white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with black, uppercase letters. Henry’s thoughts appear in Manga-style diagonal-shaped balloons. Words grow bold for emphasis, enlarge for volume, and shrink for distance as Henry overhears a general’s disparaging thoughts on the battle and the men he serves alongside. Thanks to Abrams ComicArts for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Generals and political leaders may record history. Yet the compelling stories of war concern those serving in the ranks. Like young Henry Fleming, these brave souls crouch behind the bulwarks or risk flying bullets and explosions. Instead of showing armies achieving decisive battles, The Red Badge of Courage GN focuses on a young man’s desire to become the person he envisions, regardless of whether anyone else values his contributions.
Rating 9.8/10
To look inside see my preview of The Red Badge of Courage.
Buy The Red Badge of Courage from Abrams Books.
