Review by C.J. Bunce
2.2 million men were drafted by the U.S. government for military service between 1964 and 1973, and in former Marvel Comics artist Rick Parker’s new graphic novel memoir he tells just one of those stories. In Drafted (available now here at Amazon), Parker shares a story you have heard before, but in different ways and from different voices. This isn’t Full Metal Jacket, but a story that has become part of the American experience if you ever spoke to anyone who served in the 1960s or 1970s. Many that went overseas as part of the drafted never came back to have a story to tell. Parker’s story is one of a soldier serving stateside who barely survived the onslaught brought on by his own officers. It’s not Stripes, but oddly enough his story’s key moments mimic the bootcamp experience of the recruits in that movie.
What makes Parker’s story different is his ability as an artist to show in addition to telling readers about his experiences. Parker previous worked on a project about Harvey Pekar, and it’s that kind of storytelling readers will find in Drafted. Parker’s artwork also has a similar vibe to Pekar’s. Parker recounts his own origin story, reading about newspaper comic strips characters he identified with. He doesn’t mention Sad Sack, but that’s the kind of guy he unveils. Luck didn’t seem to be on his side, but he did manage to make it out, and went on to have a career as an artist and writer.
Parker made it through the service as a bit of a loner who didn’t find friendships to help him on his way. At one point a POW simulation where he had to crawl through a hole underground–and he did it backward–almost resulted in his death. Along with his own near misses, his entire story is dotted with the deaths of soldiers around him. Again, his service was stateside, and yet men were dying in accidents and other encounters in the states.
Readers will come away with the feeling that the leadership really didn’t have any idea what they were doing and America was lucky to survive the experience. This isn’t just the rantings of an angry enlisted soldier–Parker chose the officer path because he (mistakenly) believed the odds of getting killed were less if he was deployed to Vietnam. But he left the service as soon as his time was up. His big takeaway? Being a soldier was not for him.
Readers might find that Parker doesn’t provide all that much new in his story–every element has been recounted in other books, movies, and TV series by others who were drafted and lived to tell about it. But the book is a good reminder in a different format and for a new audience of how bad the world can get when poor decisions are made.
Drafted is available now here at Amazon, published by Abrams ComicArts.
