David Axe

Black Space by David Axe brings a lot of commonly known (but largely overlooked) details and new information together into a fascinating narrative that sheds light on just how willing we are to dance with the devil if we perceive a benefit.

Like most people my age (64) I grew up during the 60s with an interest in space travel. Even knowing the past of the German scientists working on the program, it was easy (thanks to many government and NASA spin doctors) to either gloss over it or pretend show more they had been rehabilitated. This volume brings back many of those memories while filling in many of the gaps in my own knowledge.

Whether we can continue to keep space as a more cooperative area or whether we retrace our early steps and work toward annihilation is unknown. Axe does, by telling us our history in this area, provide insight into how we can (because we did once before) maintain the peace. And question just how much evil we will overlook in order to achieve goals.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Non-fiction graphic "novels" are one of my favorite mediums. For an atypical story such as Alvin Greene's this format does it well. More detail than a local news segment, it ignores the filler that is often used to fill an hour-long documentary and manages to be interesting and thoughtful. The artwork is well done - varied enough to keep from becoming dry. The artist Blue Delliquanti managed to impart emotion to many of the scenes that would play flat on a tv screen. Although there was much show more TV coverage of these events, allowing your imagination to fill the gaps does better to serve the people involved. Any biased tones in the writing are slight and not distracting.

I really liked this. It was a quick read, provided enough information to craft a story that encourages the reader to dig deeper, yet didn't drown the audience in overbearing political diatribes. show less

Frustratingly brief oral histories with U.S. soldiers and Afghan citizens give a mere glimpse into the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Each story is worth reading, but viewed as a whole, they seem sort of random and lacking in deep insight into the conflict.

The art is fine if a bit sketch-like in places, but I'm not sure the cartoonish style was the best choice for the stories being told. I thought briefly this was being pitched toward younger readers, but the language used by the soldiers is show more quite adult. show less

Thought provoking, honest, and sometimes very gloomy. The truth ain't pretty, but I'd rather get the ugly than distant pictures of Oz. This is not a comic book, with super heroes and scantily dressed women. It is a true war memoir from a great freelance journalist, put into animation form by a talented artist in Matt Bors. If you're looking for Spiderman, go down to the quick stop with your $2.