We Need Kids’ Shows About War
For family entertainment, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is remarkably complex. The animated Disney show is about military strategy, chain-of-command, civil-military relations, diplomacy and statecraft. More importantly, it’s about wartime ethics. What constitutes acceptable losses in battle? Would you torture a prisoner if you thought it would help save... Read more
The Jewish Card Shark Who Became a Chinese General
“I can go into China whenever I wish to,” Morris Cohen bragged to a studio audience during a 1960 broadcast of the Canadian quiz show Front Page Challenge. “Well, I’m interested to know how you can do that as you once worked for Chiang, Chiang Kaishek,” a panelist remarked.... Read more
Arthur Chin Was America’s First World War II Ace
On Aug. 3, 1938 Arthur Chin led a group of seven Gladiator biplanes from the Chinese Nationalist air force’s 28th Pursuit Squadron against a formation of much more advanced Japanese A5M fighters. In the sky over China’s Hubei province, Chin fought off several of the A5Ms. His own aircraft... Read more
The Warlord and His Gun Factory
“Armed force is the backing of justice.” That was Chinese warlord Yan Xishan’s motto. For decades in the early- and mid-20th century, Yan ruled Shanxi province, fighting both for and against fellow warlords, the nationalists, the communists and the Japanese. His rule was characterized by his search for the... Read more
The Cartoonist, the Historian and Their War
This story first appeared on Dec. 29, 2013. While working on his classic World War I serial It Was the War of the Trenches, celebrated French cartoonist Jacques Tardi was approached by collector and historian Jean-Pierre Verney, who offered to correct some minor errors in War of the Trenches.... Read more
War & Fireworks
Meet the Comics Artist Who Draws War in Meticulous Detail
This story originally appeared on March 17, 2015. Wayne Vansant, the son of a World War II veteran, grew up on war stories. As a child, he loved hearing adults talk about the war, reading about it and watching movies about it. As a result, the 65-year-old comics writer... Read more
When Will Eisner Went to War
This story originally appeared on April 12, 2015. The name Will Eisner is synonymous with good comics. The industry Eisner Award — the comics world’s version of the Oscars—even bears his name. Writers and artists work their whole careers hoping to win an Eisner. Eisner is most famous for... Read more
Bits of Burlesque
In This Ex-Spook’s New Thriller, Chuck Schumer Is President and Terror Is Spreading
In 2019 a bloody attack on the American embassy in Baghdad kills countless Americans and unleashes a crisis that will soon envelope the world as special operators, spies, terrorists and politicians scramble to respond to the new reality. This is the horror scenario that Eric Anderson envisions in his... Read more

Kevin Knodell

Contributing Editor