Art of War (Asiapac Comic Series) [Paperback]

Chih Tsai Chung (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 125 pages
• Publisher: China Books & Periodicals (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9971985608
• ISBN-13: 978-9971985608
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missable, April 18, 2004

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art of War (Asiapac Comic Series) (Paperback)

Larry Gonick has proven that nonfiction comics can be well-drawn, informative, and entertaining. This one is, at best, informative. Even then, it's not the best translation of Sun Tzu that I've seen.

Every comic has a visual style, and I don't need to like it to respect it. It just has to show craftsmanship and aptness to the text. This fell down seriously on craftsmanship, partly by replicating panels or parts of panels (e.g. pp 13/27 and 77/83). Duplication is fine when there's good artistic reason for it, but this just looked like laziness.

The English was generally good, but had a few rocky moments. For example "Good maneouvres is like water ..." - someone should remind the translator that agreement between nouns and verbs are important.

Still, the Sun Tzu text is strong enough to overcome even this rendering. One phrase had real meaning today: "Attack only to win. Don't move in if there is nothing to gain." I'm writing this during the reign of Pres. Bush the Second, while his Iraqi war is still festering. How I wish that Bush knew today what was common knowledge somewhere around 300BC.

This book has value only for keeping Sun Tzu alive in the Post-Literate society. If the reader doesn't require picture books, though, I'd suggest a different translation.

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius use of cartooning to aid the reader in understanding advanced military theory, October 17, 2011

By 

Lincoln Wills (Pensacola, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art of War (Asiapac Comic Series) (Paperback)

Asiapac comic series: Chinese military classic: The Art of War. Edited and illustrated by Tsai Chih Chung and translated by Leong Weng Kam. ISBN 9971985608. First copyrighted May 1991, 125 pages, 13 chapters.

I will use Sun Zi because that is the spelling used in this work, though there are many variations on this (e.g., Sun Tzu).

This interpretation of Sun Zi's classical military strategic text with the use of cartoons makes this one of the most must-have English language versions of "The Art of War." All chapters are present and subject matter is introduced at the same pace as found in any other translation of "The Art of War." Nothing is missing. I compared this edition with the Sweetwater Press edition (ISBN-13: 9781581736212) and found no differences in subject matter or topic -- only in some of the wording. The Sweetwater Press edition is only 64 pages. Also, the Sweetwater pages are less than half the size of this illustrated version. Both are 13 chapters. The drawings and artwork do add volume to this classic work. Still, it is very compact and possibly why I have held onto mine for almost 20 years.

The drawings and cartooning is simple line art with no color and no shadowing effects. The characters are drawn wearing classical Chinese clothing representative of ancient Imperial China, at about the time the Art of War may have first been introduced. Sun Zi is drawn as a general and is in almost all frames. He is used to narrate the comic, often with bubble comments in the first person. Second person roles are played by soldiers or other persons acting out a scene. There is also narration that is not bubbled. This is used to keep the pace of the cartoon and military theory both moving forward. And that is the genius of this work. You are not only getting advanced military theory, you are getting it highlighted with interesting scenes and role-play within the pictures.

As in all books, there is the introductory notes. This too has that. But before the first chapter begins, there is an illustrated scene used to introduce the reader to Sun Zi. It tells the story of how Sun Zi introduced himself to the Emperor. The Emperor challenge Sun Zi if he could apply his tactics to undisciplined women. He accepted the challenge without hesitation and proceeded to drill the women in simple tasks. When his instructions where not being followed, he accepted that it was the result of his failure to provide proper training and/or clarity of command. He started the evolution over again from the start. The result repeated. However, this time he did not blame himself and immediately sacrificed the lead women, much to the protest of the Emperor. After that, all members of this new all women regiment did exactly as told. The Emperor was disgusted, yet he gave Sun Zi command of all his armies.

So, you are warned. This is no child book. Advanced military theory will be discussed. Cartoon images of egregious atrocities will be displayed.