The Four Color Media Monitor

The Catholic Standard reports there's a new illustrated short story published about an army chaplain who served during the Korean war in the 1950s, a period of history that's rarely been spoken about ever since the M.A.S.H sitcom came to an end over 40 years ago:

A nonprofit dedicated to supporting the U.S. Army has released a graphic novel highlighting the story and service of Father Emil Kapaun, the Catholic military chaplain who gave his life in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War and has an active cause for canonization.

Since 2018, the Association of the United States Army, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the U.S. Army through education and professional development initiatives, has released four graphic novels every year. The comic books seek to highlight the heroic lives and stories of Army Medal of Honor recipients.

This fall, the organization chose to feature the story of Father Kapaun, who received the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2013. Father Kapaun is the first military chaplain to be featured in the comic book series, which was released Sept. 23.

“I was doing research for a different graphic novel and came across the story of Father Kapaun, and his life really piqued my interest,” Joseph Craig, director of AUSA Book Program, told OSV News. “The more I learned about him, the more fascinating the story became. Based on the reception we are receiving about this particular issue, we are finding other people agree with that.”

Drawn and written by comic book professionals who have previously worked on Marvel and DC Comics projects, the new, eight-page comic presents Father Kapaun’s story in an engaging, accurate manner.

Wonder if the writers include Chuck Dixon, who did work on the Punisher at Marvel, but was blacklisted by the early 2000s, and DC followed suit a few years later? What I do know is that the Korean war undoubtably is something to learn from, regardless of whether it can be considered a victory or loss from a modern perspective. There's surely plenty of wars throughout history that don't get any attention today because they're not considered PC enough as a subject, and the 1st world war from 1914-18 is definitely one of those. The chaplain in focus is surely a figure to appreciate as well, and I congratulate the publishers for bringing his story to the spotlight.

Labels: Europe and Asia, history, indie publishers