Review: Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel by C. M. Butzer
Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel
by C. M. Butzer
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles in American history, with the largest number of casualties during the Civil War. The Confederate Army was at the height of their power going in, but their defeat at Gettysburg marked the end of their invasion of the North, and is now believed by many historians to be the turning point of the war. C. M. Butzer’s new graphic novel presents the story of the battle and its aftermath, leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s hugely popular Gettysburg Address. My copy was black and white, but the back cover says the final version will be printed in “2-color” and I’m wondering if that means it’ll have shades of gray or blue or something mixed in.
I was disappointed that the book rushed through the actual battle of Gettysburg so quickly. Although one-third of the book is centered on the events of July 1st - 3rd, the actual fighting is usually shown in a sequence of dialogue-free panels of men running, shooting, dying and then a block of text at the end explaining the tactical decisions of the day. Or worse, the book will simply have a title, like “July 2nd, 1863. Little Round Top” on the top of a page and its all the explanation you get for the next two pages. There are author’s notes at the back of the book that help explain the pages, but I feel these sequences would have worked a lot better if the story had been explained through the soldier’s dialogue, or if more time had been spent developing the characters of the various men in the armies. It should have been integrated into the main story instead of relying on footnotes. If I had not read The Killer Angels in 8th grade, I don’t think I would understand what was going on in most of the panels.
Butzer did a much better job showing the aftermath of the battle as the townspeople of Gettysburg struggled to bury the thousands of bodies and treat the injured soldiers left behind, using letters written by women who helped nurse the soldiers for his sources. When Lincoln comes to Gettysburg to deliver the closing remarks at the dedication ceremony, a full eighteen pages is given to a visual interpretation of the Gettysburg Address. Since Lincoln’s address is so brief it gets quite chopped up in the paneling process, but it is also reprinted in full at the end of the book so that its full impact can be felt.
I am of mixed opinion on this book. I feel it dumbed down the Civil War a lot to appeal to a younger audience. Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel is aimed at children in late elementary school/early middle school. This makes sense; that’s when most American students study the Civil War in great detail. (Here in California we usually do it in 8th grade, and briefly revisit it in our junior year of high school.) But my teacher had successfully used The Killer Angels for many years to supplement her curriculum with great success. That book went into much greater depth and character development, and I felt had greater clarity into the battle itself. Maybe if you were teaching the Civil War to ESL students, or 4th/5th grade students, I could see using this book as a supplementary tool. But once a student hits middle school I think they can handle a less sanitized version.
To read more about Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.