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Saturday, August 11, 2007
Giant Robot Warriors: graphic novel allegory about militarism
Giant Robot Warriors, a graphic novel, is a masterful comic allegory for world's military build-up and stand-offs. In a cock-eyed alternate reality, giant robot warriors -- REALLY giant robot warriors -- are the ultimate weapon, capturing the imagination of ever fierce-hearted patriot of every land. Nations that attain GRW capacity are able to handily conquer their neighbors, and that is the scenario that propels this story.
Rufus Hirohito is the playboy scientist in charge of the current-generation GRW program, and his life is inverted by the news that Paraqan, an oil-rich middle-eastern dictatorship, has attained its own GRW and plans to destroy its neighbors. The US has no choice but to intervene -- even if it means sending an untested GRW behemoth into the field.
There's obviously a lot of manga influence here, but the story is pure American, a masterful take on the funnybook hero stories about America's destiny to police and govern the world. The writer, Stuart Moore, describes the book as having been written during the brief flare of post-9/11 optimism that ended when the US squandered its international goodwill on pointless oil wars and security theater.
Five years later, circumstances are still similar enough that Giant Robot Warriors still has political weight (unfortunately).
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posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:32:55 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
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