The Art of War

by Kelly Roman

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. Barnes & Noble,2003

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, War, Dystopia, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Kelly Roman learned woodblock printmaking at Deerfield Academy and graduated from Harvard where he studied creative writing with Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Richard Ford. Kelly is a co-owner of Fisher Wallace Laboratories, a progressive medical device company that treats the symptoms of PTSD. THE ART OF WAR is his debut graphic novel.

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it was an interesting concept. It is a story set in the future (after Biden's policies have come to fruition) where Communist China rules the world. America has fallen into third-world destitution. Perhaps this is the only good part of the story. It is a dystopian, but relatively accurate, view of the future in a world ruled completely by Communist China.

In this mess, we have an overly complicated, poorly illustrated, and filled with unappealing characters. The attempts to pigeonhole this story into Sun Tzu's dictums cause some measure of too much information. The text pertaining to the story and the blurbs from Sun Tzu tend to become mixed together and make for odd reading.

I'll give the concept high marks but the execution leaves much to be desired.

[Ned · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library after reading an interview with the author. He spent years on it and even had to re-do the coloring because of some issue with the shades of red used (this graphic novel is in black and white except for the gallons of blood and occasional tattoo).

Alas, the tone is unrelentingly juvenile and the story incoherent (the future has insect-sized microdrone assassin bugs but you can't buy a company without an unnotarized physical signature). The gritty characters generally prove their bad boy bona fides by killing or maiming their wives. The author also gives his own name to the protagonist, for no other reason than so he can write lines like, "So where's Kelly Roman? I want to finally meet him." There's also a fair amount of sloppiness in the artwork, most egregiously in the liability release that Kelly Roman signs which happens to be a perfectly legible school form (there's a space for the Secretary of the School Board to sign!).

Here is a sample line from the book: "Only the Prince would invent expandable body armor that could be molded into the shape of a pelvis." If this intrigues you, or you are a 15-year-old boy who likes drawings of boobies and people being maimed, by all means check this out. Otherwise, I cannot recommend it.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this, being a fan of gritty graphic novels and The Art of War, the book that inspired it. But the plot seemed to be bigger in scope than the space allotted for it, while the art, which did have its stylistic moments, suffered from the limited color palette of black, white, and occasionally red (mostly to highlight blood).

Additionally, the decision to print long passages of Sun Tzu's source text over equally long bits of the story muddled both the quotes and the ongoing action -- I think the quotes would have been better served between the various segments of the book instead of intertwined through them.

While I don't regret reading it, and have already passed it along to a friend I believe will appreciate it, I was a bit underwhelmed by this finished product, which was not as good as the potential sum of its parts.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This made some lists as one of the top ten graphic novels of the year and I saw my library had it in, so I read it. Interesting concept to take an ancient text The Art of War, and have that be the backdrop of a contemporary sci fi set in the near future where Wall Street is militarized, China is the economic center of the world, and a guy named Kelly Roman is the main character... So the ancient text seems urbane and sophisticated compared to the ULTRA-violence we see in glossy black, white and red, blood spattered all over the page. The art is visually sophisticated and interesting in a way as if to, again, be an ironic commentary on the action. The Art of War is only sort of vaguely referential throughout, we don't know why is it "Kelly Roman" is the main character, what that has to do with anything that the author has his name... his brother is involved... this is a brother tale, so maybe it is important to Roman the author, this brother aspect... but it is mainly about VIOLENCE that reminded me The History of Violence by Wagner, its a commentary on what The Art of War could not have imagined, a present and a future with the sam cruelty and torture and evil vengeance and power-grabs, with High Tech added in... I didn't love this book, feels colder and more distant than I wanted it to be.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's a certain sense in which it's not okay to trash someone's creative output, if only because the act of writing is courageous in itself. Could you follow through on a project like this to the point of publication? Well if the answer is no, then you shouldn't be entirely dismissive of someone's efforts.

The art seemed ok. But there were many issues of issues of presentation, e.g. red on black on glossy paper is not legible.

My main gripe is this: inserting the text of the Sun Tzu classic into one's comic book -- without bothering to tie Sun Tzu's sayings into the story -- is not cool. Maybe it lends the thing enough gravitas to trick people like me into wanting to read it, but it doesn't improve the reading experience.

But there are much larger problems. Basically, it's pointless, unintelligible, and one long juvenile Asia-fetish/cyber-punk mix up. I've been exploring the comics/zines/graphic novel form for a few years and I've never felt the cliches about comics to be justified -- until I picked this one up.

[Tom LA · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because of the evocative and beautiful cover, and because I was intrigued by the concept of an adaptation of "The art of war".

Lots of respect to the creators of this graphic novel, however I'm writing here to say that overall I am disappointed and I do not think this is a great work at all. In particular, I did not like the way the illustrator drew people: he is excellent at drawing anything else (wonderful landscapes, outstanding architectures, great perspectives), but oh my God he really needs to work on his skills when it comes to drawing faces and expressions! Example: page 38 and 39, the black man's profile completely changes from one page to the other. Many other examples where the characters' faces were not clear / steady enough to be easily recognized.

Two more comments:

1) the writing / plot is not great but ok, however if you don't like cyberpunk / hyper-violence, you won't like most of it.
2) the inclusion of quotes from "The art of war" sometimes has something to do with the plot, sometimes it doesn't (or if it does, it's too indirect).

In addition, I confess I never fully read the ancient text "The art of war", and now that I have read a big chunk of it thanks to this novel, I can comfortably say that - while it certainly has a huge poetic and cultural value - it is utterly vague and banal in terms of the content. That, unfortunately, is another problem I had with this book: the original is just a collection of vague metaphors about war.

In any case, here is an article by the author, Kelly Roman, who gives you his own take on this work. His fundamental inspiration, the question: "What would the world look like if China considered the performance of its investment portfolio a legitimate national security interest that may be protected through the application of military force?", especially by 2037, is something that I find too shallow to buy into, even for a fictional story. What happened by 2037 to the US military power is never really clarified. Maybe Roman does realize that it will take at least 50 years before China will be able to seriously compete with the US on the military level, but he did not make the effort to explain how China had completely overpowered the US by 2037.

Here is his article, for reference:

"By 2007, I had spent a year writing full time for the first time in my life, struggling to identify the best approach to adapting Sun Tzu's The Art of War into a graphic novel. I had already written and disposed of a script that had been rejected by all the publishers that read it - I needed to start from scratch. I sensed a growing national anxiety about China's hegemonic rise, and I wanted to transform the ancient text into something that explored this anxiety. I discovered that China had recently formed its first sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation (known in the industry at the CIC), to invest a portion of the nation's trillion-and-a-half dollars worth of currency reserves. In May of 2007, I read that the CIC invested $3 billion in the American private equity firm Blackstone run by the notorious Wall Street tycoon Stephen Schwarzman - a company that itself had stakes in large corporations employing over 350,000 people. I found myself haunted by the question: "What would the world look like if China considered the performance of its investment portfolio a legitimate national security interest that may be protected through the application of military force?" Images flooded into my mind and, over the course of the next four and a half years, provided the basis for the inked pages of The Art of War: A Graphic Novel [Harper, $22.99].

Today the CIC is the most powerful sovereign wealth fund in the world. It manages over $400 billion, including a 5% stake in JP Morgan and, very recently, a 30% stake in GDF Suez, one of the world's largest utility companies, headquartered in France. China's portfolio focuses on the things large populations need: energy, infrastructure, minerals, agriculture and finance. Twenty years from now, the CIC could easily manage $1-$2 trillion -and become a legitimate national security interest.

So I decided to set the graphic novel in the year 2032 and depict Sun Tzu, the ancient general-philosopher, as the Chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund, which I named Trench. The financial industry would be militarized. Terror tactics such as suicide bombings and torture would be used to instill fear in the enemy. The most game-changing piece of military hardware since the atomic bomb - the unmanned drone - would be used by portfolio managers to acquire information and eliminate competition. Especially mosquito and hummingbird drones descended from those already being developed. Biotechnology would also play an important role, to enhance the performance of fund managers in charge of vast fortunes. Sun Tzu's nemesis evolved into a currency trader who decides to grow antennae on his flesh to communicate with a captive supercolony of army ants in order to invent new trading algorithms.

Suppression of personal freedom - the thing most Americans associate with China - is not the product of political ideology, but the desire to preserve control. It's interesting to note that a few months ago, the FAA released a list of certificates given to organizations to operate drones in civil airspace. The list includes the police departments of North Little Rock, Arkansas and Seattle, Washington, as well as the county of Otter Tail, Minnesota and the city of Herington, Kansas.

After reading Minxin Pei's book, China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy, and learning how China's communist party siphons off the country's wealth through the collusion of China's state-run industries, I realized that what we have to fear is not something innately Chinese, but the basic human flaws amplified by the possession of great power. With a population four times that of the United States, given enough time, surely China could realize four times the power.

By the end of 2007, I had managed to establish the world and at least one of the major themes for the adaptation; the next challenge was how to integrate the original text of The Art of War - more specifically, Lionel Giles' seminal translation that resides in the public domain. I wanted the graphic novel to organize the text into 13 chapters like the original, with the same chapter titles. My solution was to create a protagonist who becomes Sun Tzu's protégé and keeps a diary that documents what he hears Sun Tzu say. The diary includes drawings, and by the end of the novel you realize you are reading the diary. That's why I named the protagonist Kelly Roman - my name - and had him drawn to look like me, so I could extend the concept all the way to the book jacket. This also had the effect of amplifying my emotions during the writing process. I found myself tearing up while writing scenes in which the protagonist interacts with his father, and depressed and angry when writing scenes between Kelly and his dark mentor, Sun Tzu. These relationships, I realized after writing the script, reflect the light and dark aspects of my relationship with my father in a way I don't think would have occurred otherwise.

None of this would have been possible if I had not worked with as gifted and hard-working an illustrator as Michael DeWeese, who took my script and storyboards and turned them into spectacular works of art that bleed emotion as much as blood.

My favorite graphic novels are intellectual and ambitious, but they would be boring if they were not also fun and a bit nasty. I highly recommend writing a graphic novel and casting yourself as the protagonist. I can pick up the book whenever I want and witness myself killing people and sleeping with monsters of biotechnology. It's been a thrilling ride."

[John Emmerling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although graphic novels are not my usual choice of casual reading this one is filled with breathtaking LEAPS of creative imagination. While reading it the thought kept occurring: "Wow, how'd they come up with THIS?" Example of a "leap" >> it is sometime before the coming midcentury and China has conquered the world, not through military conquest -- but through brilliant MANIPULATION of the world's financial markets. Example #2: an enemy can be zapped by deploying a poison-wielding insect drone (the mosquito carries a serial number.) Example #3: watch out for that super-gun surgically installed deep inside the bodyguard's femur. The Art of War by Roman and DeWeese will -- my prediction -- eventually find its place on knowledgeable critics' lists of Top-10 Graphic Novels for Eternity.

[P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

young guys come in requesting The Art of War all. of. the. time. I'm going to start recommending this and see how they react. "It's about two warring hedge funds of the future. One of them is run by an ultra-violent version of Sun Tzu and the interview involves heavy torture. The other is run by a guy whose business strategy is to grow ant antennae all over his body so he can feel group emotions. And they're fighting over black hole technology. It's also a revenge story."

I think they'll go for it.

[Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thing about graphic novels are their ability to bring in the visual aspect of a narrative concurrent with the literature. So you can imagine, taking a super-solid text like Sun Tzu's Art of War and interlacing these themes into a corporatist future in collapse and what you end up with is a dope freaking graphic novel.

Illustrations are fantastic, use of tri-chomatic (black/white and red) is striking and the tale of revenge serves Sun Tzu's legacy well. A welcome refresher to the text-only version of the Art of War, reminding me all the reasons it is so revered after so many centuries.

pretty hot stuff...

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how "into" this book I could get- it was very dark, very gritty, and plenty of blood. But this was a good book- it did an excellent job of juxtaposing Sun Tzu's ancient text with futuristic scheming- war is timeless, after all. And again, I usually get bored with plain, black and white illustrations (hey, don't judge), but these were really well-done. There's a scene at the end, when a character is coming to in a hospital bed, and his eyes are adjusting- and that's one really good series of panels that this book offers. I liked it, and I am so excited that I got this for free in the Goodreads giveaways!

[Brittany Shifflett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork!

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly no.

I didn't like this.

It was all over the place and half the time I was confused if the story ended or what happened with some characters. Couldn't follow/wouldn't follow cuz it wasn't interesting.

Read the book, much better.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see why the original book is banned. I really like the graphic novel version. How the author/illustrator turned this into a dystopian world was cool.

[Oz Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the most violent graphic novel I've read so far, filled to the brim with body horror. Every few pages I found myself uttering some variant of "Holy shit!"

The storyline is a pretty standard sci-fi/action plot, centered around the main character (whose shares the author's name... I'm not sure what to make of that) who is simultaneously seeking vengeance for his brother's murder and trying to run away from the overwhelming guilt of one big mistake he made during his sordid past — by aligning himself with his exorbitantly wealthy/powerful enemy. There is a twist ending that delivers gorgeous satisfaction to what is otherwise a mishmash of stock plot devices.

The storytelling is intense and largely engaging; the black-and-white illustrations are harsh and ugly and thick and dark, which is exactly what the story calls for.

Most pages include at least one line (rendered in white font on a red balloon to make them stand out visually) from Sun Tzu's The Art of War as a form of running commentary, and although the lines are carefully chosen and placed to correspond with what's happening on the page, the constant back-and-forth between dialogue, narration, image, and quoted text became tedious after a while, like reading a text where half the page is comprised of footnotes. I expect I'll appreciate the quotes more on re-read, but for the first run-through they just seemed like speed bumps.

[JwW White · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book came highly recommended as a "groundbreaking" graphic text. And as a fan of Sun Tzu's seminal "The Art of War," I hoped that this text might be useful for or engaging to young people. Unfortunately, the text is SO graphically violent and ethnocentric that I could not recommend it for teachers or even as a good book to read for adults.

The artwork is skillful and the story does weave well around Sun Tzu quotes. But the authors for some reason chose to make the text unnecessarily bloody and gruesome. The imagery harkens to a Quentin Tarantino movie without the schmaltz to make its use of graphic violence and gore absurdist. Instead it seems that the authors were going for shock value. This is a shame because the underlying premise--that the U.S. and other world powers have sold out power and influence to corporations to the complete detriment of their people--is certainly powerful and timely.

[Jj · Rating 5 out of 5]

No-one can be sure what's going to happen tomorrow let alone 20 years into the future. However, this graphic novel paints a vivid picture of what the world will look like if we carry on how we've always carried on, governed by greed and the greedy. Call me crazy, but I recently bought an American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness backpack which is filled with essentials like water, dried food, a flashlight, basic medical supplies and a whistle. Fortunately there's just enough room for the Art of War which entertains and educates in equal measure. If I happen to bump into you in the post-apocalyptic gloom I'll lend it to you but it'll cost you a Hershey's bar or a fistful of cigarettes.

[Bookalicious · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman’s clever method of weaving Tzu’s seminal work into a brand new work of fiction is the only way I could have read The Art of War. As much as I like to read notable works regardless of genre, this would have been a tough one to sit through in its original form.

The art was on point and the story engaging. The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is because despite all the positives, I felt the story could have been a little more developed. Regardless, I think Roman did an excellent job overall. Including Tzu as a character was a nice touch. I look forward to reading more comics either written by Roman or illustrated by DeWeese.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is NOT a kiddie book! I enjoyed it - the grittiness, the starkness, the near-future dystopia militarized society, even the weakly veiled Stephen Hawking character and the names - Ripley for the bad-ass girl side-kick, The Prince for the bad guy (LOVED the twist at the end with him), although I'm not sure about the author using his own name for the main character. It also had enough of a story combined with the visual interest that I made it last a few days, not normal for me reading a graphic novel, even a book length one.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent story, though the inclusion of the original Art of War writing was slightly confusing at times. I didn't really feel for any of the characters, as they didn't have a whole lot to their backstories. The art was at times quite good and at times not so good, which is fine, I don't expect every panel to be amazing. I did like how it was non-standard panels though. There were some interesting formatted pages because of that. I liked the stark black and white with red.
I'd probably read this again.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm interested in the English translation of The Art of War because I've worked for a thousand pinheads who believe it applies to the work world and to know the principles they operate by is useful.

The Art of War is the narrative for this futuristic novel. It's fun, but a little hard to follow. The art is challenging and sometimes characters look similar. So far (2/3 finished), it's fun.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the adaptation portions of Sun Tzu's classic treatise receive serviceable treatment here - the environmental trappings pay the bills with some mind-blowing set pieces ranging the gamut from biopunk, techno warfare and hard boiled sci-fi. Michael DeWeese's gritty and monochromatic illustrations further charge the atmosphere to satisfying effect.

[Emilia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of like the wild bloody muscley craziness of this. Is that wrong of me? Maybe. I almost was able to follow the stuff about the Art of War, although I am maybe not the target audience/I don't really care to understand it all that much. Was it substantial? I'm not sure. Was it fun and kind of gross? Yes. I'll take it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging and well told story, with illustrations in the story of how the principles may be applied in seeking to overcome. This was an audacious challenge, to entertain as well as enlighten in a way that is enjoyable and totally at odds with most people's expectations of what it takes to learn from ancient history. Very well done.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

M.I.T.N.G reviews The Art Of War
http://mediocrityisthenewgenius.com/2...

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book - as entertaining as it was scary. Roman creates a world we don't want to see come true!

[Carl Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a wonderful journey that is only surpassed by the artistic visualization of the story. Any fan of Sun Tzu or just a casual fan of graphic novels would enjoy this novel.

[Poisongirl 0101 · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than awesome, more than I had expected, full review to come! great work for two guys on a first graphic novel! <3

[Thatsgreateric · Rating 5 out of 5]

hollywood has a penchant for recycling old themes due to a lack of creativity but this book has it right. it's not 100% original, yet it's extremely fascinating.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is pretty awesome. Really good artwork combined with interesting storytelling. I really liked the setting and the surprise ending as well. Definitely worth checking out.

[Michell Xool · Rating 5 out of 5]

La sabiduria oriental de Sun Tzu es efictiva hastan en un mundo apocaliptico, pero, acaso nos lleva a la victoria en el ambito personal?