Customer Reviews

Cleburne: A Graphic Novel

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Patrick Cleburne has been a fascinating figure to me in my study of the Civil War, especially in the Western Theater. This graphic novel is a interesting addition to other works on Cleburne. The artistry is quite beautiful and the story of Cleburne in 1863-1864 is quite well told. The battle scenes are very well done and do not sugar coat the absolute horror of Civil War battlefields. Actually the work on the Battle of Franklin is very truthful and shows just how horrible that battle was.

The illustrations are really worth the price of the book and readers after reading this graphic novel should go onto to read even more books on Cleburne such as 'Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War ' by Craig Symonds and readers who are fascinated by Justin Murphy's graphic depiction of the Battle of Franklin should definitely pick up 'For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair At Spring Hill & the Battle of Franklin' by Eric A. Jacobson and Howard Bahr's novels 'The Black Flower' and 'The Judas Field' for further excellent reading on this horrible battle.

Hopefully a graphic novel could be done on Cleburne's prewar life and service from 1861-1863. If done by Mr. Murphy in the same manner as 'Cleburne: A Graphic Novel' I would have to pick it up.

Highly Recommended!

This is the first graphic novel I've ever owned. I bought it because of the subject matter, General Cleburne, C.S.A. As a historian and author, I was greatly impressed by Murphy's attention to detail, story-telling, and wonderful artwork which brought Cleburne's fascinating, albeit tragic story to life.

Murphy does a fantastic job bringing out Cleburne's proposal to free the slaves and allow them to fight for the Confederacy which makes the issues in this novel relevant and current on many levels.

The artwork was spot on and at just a glance, I recognized Lucius Polk, Braxton Bragg, Hiram Granbury, Hood, and others. The scenes depicting the Franklin battlefield were moving and terribly beautiful.

I highly recommend this graphic novel to anyone interested in learning about the war in the west's best general and one of the Confederacy's finest citizens.

I look forward to Murphy's next project and hope it is historical in nature.

Debra Glass (co-author of Skeletons of the Civil War - True Ghost Stories of the Army of Tennessee)

For those of us who consider ourselves serious students of the Civil War, there is no more compelling figure to emerge from that momentous struggle than CSA General Patrick Cleburne.

And as you study the life of this Irish Immigrant turned Confederate General, you are amazed that you have never heard about him before.

Well as the foreward predicts, this graphic novel will help spread the story of Pat Cleburne to a entirely new audience of readers. Murphy confines his story to 1864, the years that Cleburne meets the love of his life and embarks on a quest to convince the Confederate Leadership to employ African-American soldiers and secure Southern Independence.

The story and the artwork combine wonderfully to draw you into the story and the motivations that drive Cleburne to risk his military career and ultimately his life for his adopted nation.

Personally, I have never purchased a graphic novel before, but I am thrilled to have this graphic novel and consider it a wonderful addition to my Civil War library and yet another great way to experience the story of Pat Cleburne.

Let's hope that this graphic novel can bring the life of this extraordinary man to the attention of more Americans.

Everyone from graphic novel fans to history fans needs to have this in their collection. The story is compelling as well as somewhat controversial but enjoyable every minute of the read. Very well done. I'm introducing it to my 7th grade history class that I teach. Highly recommended!

Although I like the idea of a graphic novel and the art in this one is pretty good, a little more research should have gone into the book, a number of errors such as the following: The rolling of boulders down Missionary Ridge, it was rocks that were thrown, having Bragg being the one trying to take the Hardee Corps flags from Cleburne and handing over command of the army to Joe Johnston,Bragg handed passed command to Hardee, who then passed command to Johnston, it was Johnston that wanted to have the army go to a uniform flag system, and Lucius Polk was wounded on the Mud Creek line, not during the Battle of Kennesaw. Also,I think the author makes far too much out of the slave to soldier proposal. The idea was not unique to Cleburne, it had been appearing in southern newspapers for some time. I was also bothered by the familarity that the characters used in the dialogue. As with all things Cleburne, the definative work has yet to be written, although I didnt expect that in a Graphic Novel.