Customer Reviews

Uncle Sam

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Uncle Sam is a very good book. It is well-written, and the art is excellent, as fans of Alex Ross should expect. That said, it is also a work with strong political motives. It actually says more about modern liberal thought than it does about anything else. Conservatives will be offended by this book, while liberals will enjoy it immensely. People without strong political opinion will be introduced to one side of the "debate" between the two groups that has never really been a debate at all, but a series of unfriendly attacks from both sides, where history is treated as clay to shape and skew any way one pleases and one's own mistakes are ignored by conspicuous denial while the mistakes of the other side are constantly pointed out and intensely analyzed.

The final messages of this book are that unquestioning patriotism is a counterproductive mockery, while hope is a strong positive force; past mistakes ignored are doomed to be repeated, while an understanding of past mistakes better prepares one for a more successful future. In my opinion, both of those messages are true. I do not agree that the author fully understands historic patterns, and I feel that his exposition of mistakes is highly selective although the mistakes themselves were true mistakes. This story must be taken with a grain of salt and a healthy portion of critical thought, not with blind acceptance at all. Nevertheless, his intent is good and his story is worth reading even by those who feel that neither side in today's great political insult-fest is entirely praiseworthy.

Darnell and Ross have wrought a powerful tale in a slim little package. Both the prose and the pictures are so detailed and tactile that each time you pick up Uncle Sam it astounds. How can they can load it up with so much and still tell a short story that's so nice and tight? Alex Ross has captured Norman Rockwell's feel for Americana and morphed it into a gritty photo-realism that's immediate and on point.

My only problem with this historical allegory is none of those eye-opening quotes are footnoted. I know that's not a common comics criticism and obviously footnotes were avoided to hold the focus on the story, but we are dealing with some pretty obscure and volatile history here. Readers will want proof, more or both. Moreover, those quotes come from some fairly majestic texts that merit their own reading. Legitimate narrative concerns understandably won out, but it still teases the readers; so out of civic spirit, I'll provide some leads.

Here's a fuller version of that stunning Lincoln quote in the men's room scene (with citation):

"It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war." - Lincoln in a letter to William F. Elkins, Nov 21st, 1864

Major General Smedley Butler's words in Uncle Sam are no less startling. He bluntly admitted to having been "a gangster for capitalism" and lists each Marine incursion made for business interests masquerading as national concerns. The lines come from a blistering article against imperialism printed in "Common Sense". Portions of it can be found on the websites of Marines, pacifists, socialists and American Legionnaires. Unmentioned in Uncle Sam, is that in 1934 this two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient exposed a fascist plot by members of America's leading capitalist families to launch a coup against Roosevelt (Read all about it in Jules Archer's The Plot to Seize the White House, 1973.) Here is a true blue American hero if ever there was one. Now why the hell haven't we heard of him? I bet you can guess.

Most conservatives won't like Uncle Sam. They'll call it "one-sided" - as if the version of history taught in classrooms isn't essentially theirs, with a token pinch of diversity thrown in (and they fuss and moan about that too). They don't like any medicine in their sugar and they sure get ornery if you shoehorn any history into their mythology, however little. Uncle Sam can be bitter medicine, but it's essential to anyone who cares about America.

What makes Uncle Sam so important is that it reanimates a patriotism we can be proud of. In his latest screed, Nazi apologist Pat Buchanan accuses liberals of perverting patriotism from "a love of place into a love of process". That "process" is democracy and that love is precisely what defines us as Americans. As Ben Franklin said, "Where ever there is liberty, there is my country". Since September eleventh, both kinds of patriotism have reawakened with a vengeance and both the best and the worst of us have come to fore. It is high time we listened to what Lincoln called "the angels of our better nature" now that the "Culture War" has begun in earnest and our government's flirtation with fascism has progressed to heavy petting.

A disheveled, homeless man, dressed in a torn and stained Uncle Sam costume, is led out of a hospital in New York City and onto the street. He shouts incessantly in the form of soundbites and political quotations. He has flashbacks of a life in various periods of American history, and horrific visions of America today. Is he just another human wreckage living in his own personal nightmare? Or is he the real "Uncle Sam"? The symbol and icon of the Great Republic?

Steve Darnall (writer), Alex Ross (artist) and Todd Klein (letterer) have created a magnificent treatment of the "Uncle Sam" mythos, super-imposing the idealized republic against the bloody history and chaotic present of the USA. Originaly printed as a two issue comic book by DC Comics (the people who brought you that other icon of America, Superman), both issues are collected in one volume. Regardless of your political opinion, be you patriot or revolutionary, this book will make you stop and think about the difference between the ideal and the reality.

Kirkus Reviews wrote it better than I ever could: "More explicitedly radical than anything from DC Comics in recent history...a damning account of American political history that also affirms basic democratic ideals."

Put away of your notions about what you consider a "comic book" to be, and read this!

"Uncle Sam" rightfully takes its place next to "V for Vendetta," "Maus" and "I Saw It." It is a rare achievement in comics, for a major company to put forth a book that has something to say on a subject other than comics.

Speaking with a remarkable eloquence, "Uncle Sam" speaks of symbols and countries, and what it means to be patriotic, and to have faith in a symbol. The message is not an easy one to decipher, which is proper considering the complexity of the issue. There are layers here.

The art is, of course, incredible, as one comes to expect from Alex Ross. He has really outdone himself, and this is obviously a labor of love that goes above and beyond his fanboy's love of comics. He uses a variety of artistic influences and imagery. Like the storyline itself, a deeper knowledge of American art history aids the appreciation.

This book combines everything that is unique and relevant about the medium of comics. Words and pictures together, telling a story in a way impossible to either alone.

Some of the above reviews claim the book is leftist propaganda - mere rhetoric to support a Democratic point of view. I have to disagree. Republicans would see it that ways since it's really an indictment polarized thinking and blind faith in extremes.

Nowhere in the work does it say "socialism is good" - what it does say is unbrindled capitalism and concentration of wealth and power in a priveleged class is NOT what was promised by the American Revolution.

It's not really about left and right - it more about hope and ignorance. The kind of ignorance that trys to reduce every arguement to right/wrong or left/right. The kind ignorance that makes people say "My country right or wrong." or "If you're not with us, you're against us."

It's about the American Dream versus the American Reality.

This book is more important today than ever, and every American should have to confront the issues that Uncle Sam confronts in this excellent work.

This is a prime example of how words and art can work in perfect harmony to produce the kind of immediate and intense impact that only graphic storytelling can. Originally published as a two issue mini series by Vertigo Comics, the "mature reader" line of DC Comics, this "comics" masterpiece is now available in a single volume (I would recommend getting the hardcover, although it is also available in paperback). This brief plot synopsis appeared on the back cover of the original first issue:

"Clad in star-spangled rags, a man named Sam wanders the streets of an anonymous American city, struggling to remember his true identity. But he's plagued by inner voices that carry him on a time-traveling journey to the dark heart of America . . . and hint at his own violent past. Is he Uncle Sam-or one of U.S.?"

"Uncle Sam" is much more than just a revisionist history lesson. Sam's efforts to regain his past reveal the dysfunctional relationship that most U.S. citizens have with their mother country. They mistakenly believe that our government has fallen from the state of near grace in which it was immaculately conceived in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The disjointed memories experienced by Uncle Sam and shared with the readers peering into his soul reveal that, for all its deserved honors as a pioneer for liberty, this nation has always been tarnished by greed and the misuse of power. Facing this painful realization about our nation's past is the important first step in building a better future, because if you believe your country has done no wrong, it's easy to believe that it can do no wrong.

Of course, given the factual basis for this story, Alex Ross uses the photographic quality of his paintings to reinforce the authority of Steve Darnall's text in a way that no other artist could. The horror, both in Sam's haunted face and the tragic scenes of America's equally haunted past, could not have been conveyed so powerfully without Alex's unerring eye for accuracy and realism.

_The fundamental premise of this book is that Uncle Sam, living symbol of his nation and one time super-hero, is now a wandering, homeless, schizophrenic trying to piece his mind ,and his soul, back together. It makes sense that Sam would become schizophenic, a split, fragmented personality, for as this story points out, the Ideal of America has very seldom lived up to the Reality of America. Indeed, today we are more divided than ever before into a nation of haves and have-nots.

_This is not simple-minded, knee-jerk, liberal propaganda. It is all the real truth- the truth you are seldom taught in school. Indeed it is the "forbidden truth" that you are not supposed to speak lest you be labeled a "subversive", or these days, a "terrorist".

_My favorite scene is Uncle Sam staring at the musket in his hands during Shay's Rebellion and realising, "The dream isn't failing--it was never allowed to suceed." You see, the government has always, really, been in the pockets of the banks and the rich.

_I liked this graphic novel so much that I finally bought my own copy of _The People's History of the United States_, from which much of the content is taken.

_As for those who call this a "disgusting piece of propaganda", well, you know they are either one of the "haves", or are in the pay of the haves- or, like Uncle Sam, they just haven't put their minds back together yet.

This book is incredible...... From the very beggining, where you wonder if the old nut really can be Uncle Sam, with his constant flashbacks and presidential quips, to his struggle with the image of what he has become at the end of the story, this book tells a tale that should not be ignored......

However, it is Sam's final struggle with what he has become that touches me the most. The symbol and spirit of freedom in America faces what he has become- a symbol of corporate payola..

Read this book, I urge you. It's far better than most of the junk that DC churn out these days, and better than 'The Dark Knight Returns', their best publication ever.... People might say that you cant really compare the Batman to Uncle Sam, but then you are ignorant to what Uncle Sam is, a superhero in his own right, giving hope and freedom to Americans.........

Steve Darnell and Alex Ross's "Uncle Sam" is a devastating read. There's no easy way to summarize the book-- it's most easily described as an all-American fever dream. We follow the titular character as he stumbles through a crime-ridden nation, homeless and decrepit. He is bombarded by memories of the crimes his so-called great nation has committed.

There are no two ways about it-- "Uncle Sam" is a polarizing read. Its take on American history is unflinching, and the book is quick to contrast the ideals of the United States with its actions. At times Darnell's script seems a little too on-the-nose and simplistic, but his frustration is palpable and gives the book much of its energy. Ross's confident, expressive and very human artwork makes this book a must-read for just about any comics fan.

"It's a strangled, tortured cry--the cry of patriotism. That's the noise UNCLE SAM makes: the language you've heard all your life, from school room to the nightly news, now wrapped around your neck like a rope." This is how the introduction starts. Our mysterious homeless guy, who we follow throughout the entire series, looks and sounds like the symbol of our nation, but is he? Is he REALLY our symbol or just a fruitcake? This series will always keep you guessing, making you rethink Sam's position in life with each page you turn. He returns to all the bloodiest battles we've ever had as a nation, always second guessing himself and his actions, but then finds himself back on the streets, eating out of dumpsters. He faces many challenges throughout this tale, and when the final battle is won, the story is not over, and will never BE over. UNCLE SAM is a riviting tale about patriotism, freedom, and rights that can be told no other way in such a format, and painted with a genius that captures the mood of the stroy perfectly. UNCLE SAM is possibly one of the best stories you'll ever read.