Z2 Comics and Alex De Campi are teaming up with some of the biggest names in comics with folks from the frontlines for true tales of deployment. TRUE WAR STORIES is currently live on the Kickstarter site.
Z2 Comics continues its diverse fall publishing slate with projects from today’s biggest names in entertainment. For this project, the publisher recruited members of the US military for an ambitious project: share real war stories told by those who lived them in an entertaining and moving work of graphic nonfiction. This new project is part of an exclusive presale through the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, pairing veterans with some of the biggest names in comics, as assembled by the multiple-Eisner nominated writer/editor, Alex de Campi and co-edited by Iraq War veteran Khai Krumbhaar.
In a press release from Z2 Comics, Alex de Campi said:
“Working on this book has been one of my personal high points in comics. Every story is fantastic, every collaborator has been a delight to work with, and I can’t wait for everyone to see the finished book. I don’t think you’ll find a more entertaining, thrilling, human anthology this year or any other.”
Stories in this anthology include:
- Vietcong sappers attack a fuel point, only to be foiled by an unusual alert guard dog.
- An MP guards convoys of mystery bombs in the Thai jungle in 1968.
- A young Airman copes with post-9/11 paranoia in Okinawa.
- A Marine sniper in Haiti faces the repercussions of the shot he never took.
- A team of SEALs helps rescue a kidnapped girl in the Philippines.
- Army interpreters in Iraq battle their toughest foe: the rats of Saddam’s palace.
- A soldier on a late-night run surprises a motor pool saboteur.
- A young cavalry lieutenant, fresh off the Battle of Kamdesh, meets the Marine half-brother he’s never known.
- A Navy ship reacts to an unexpected man overboard.
- And more … like what Christmas was like in a war zone
Co-editor and Iraq War veteran Khai Krumbhaar said about the project in the same press release,
“I think everyone but veterans will be surprised by the stories in this book. These are the stories we tell each other, and I’m excited for everyone to get the chance to hear them the way we do.”
Z2 publisher Josh Frankel said about the undertaking,
“After the tremendous success of our MADI campaign, and the joy of working with Alex, we were happy to partner with her on another project. This ambitious project may seem a bit of a departure from so much of what Z2 publishes; however, it lines up perfectly with our vision of teaming great storylines with top tier talent to publish books that expand the audience for comics and graphic novels through something new and unexpected.”
Other creators involved in the project include the great Peter Krause, Ryan Howe, Skylar Patridge (drawing her own father’s Vietnam story), Eoin Marron, Tish Doolin (a former Army medic), Dave Acosta, A. D’Amico, Drew Moss, Josh Hood, PJ Holden, Chris Peterson, Sam Hart, Jeff McComsey, and Paul Williams. Colors are by Dee Cunniffe, Matt Soffe, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Tarsis Cruz, and Aladdin Collar. De Campi herself does all lettering.
True War Stories is a 260-page full-color graphic novel anthology containing fifteen true tales of American service members overseas. Nearly every branch of the military is represented in this collection of stories that are heartwarming, heroic, harrowing, and even at times, hilarious, spanning the globe.
Z2 Comics will publish True War Stories in time for Veterans Day in November. All profits from the book’s retail release will be donated to military-related charities chosen by our contributors as personally meaningful to them: Objective Zero Foundation, Air Force Assistance Fund, the USO, Armed Services Arts Partnership, and Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
