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Chosin: Hold the Line
Based on the epic true story of the Chosin Reservoir campaign of the Korean War!
In the winter of 1950, deep within the frozen mountains of North Korea, 15,000 U.S. Soldiers and Marines were surrounded and trapped by 120,000 Chinese soldiers. Despite the odds, the Marines refused to surrender and fought their way 78 miles to the sea and rescued 98,000 refugees. The two stories in this book tell a tale of sacrifice and courage that contends with the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae as one of the most heroic feats in history.
Hold the Line
Seventeen year old Private First Class Billy French, fresh out of high school, is one of 5,000 Marines sent to war without going to bootcamp. Seen by the WWII vets as “sub-standard,” he is assigned as a mail clerk. While delivering mail to the grunts of Fox Company, French is trapped in a massive surprise attack launched by the Communist Chinese Army. Outnumbered and facing total annihilation, French and his fellow Marines face brutal hand-to-hand combat and unrelenting human wave attacks as they fight their way 64 miles to freedom.
To The Sea
When a small North Korean village is caught in the middle of the horrific fighting, two young children must flee for their lives. Mina and her little brother Jae Sun brave a 60-mile, hell-on-earth journey with the hopes of honoring their parent’s final wishes of escaping to freedom. Through sheer perseverance-- and the help of a few Marines-- Mina and Jae Sun make it to the sea and are rescued in what remains as the single largest seaborne evacuation of ‘enemy’ refugees in world history.
In the winter of 1950, deep within the frozen mountains of North Korea, 15,000 U.S. Soldiers and Marines were surrounded and trapped by 120,000 Chinese soldiers. Despite the odds, the Marines refused to surrender and fought their way 78 miles to the sea and rescued 98,000 refugees. The two stories in this book tell a tale of sacrifice and courage that contends with the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae as one of the most heroic feats in history.
Hold the Line
Seventeen year old Private First Class Billy French, fresh out of high school, is one of 5,000 Marines sent to war without going to bootcamp. Seen by the WWII vets as “sub-standard,” he is assigned as a mail clerk. While delivering mail to the grunts of Fox Company, French is trapped in a massive surprise attack launched by the Communist Chinese Army. Outnumbered and facing total annihilation, French and his fellow Marines face brutal hand-to-hand combat and unrelenting human wave attacks as they fight their way 64 miles to freedom.
To The Sea
When a small North Korean village is caught in the middle of the horrific fighting, two young children must flee for their lives. Mina and her little brother Jae Sun brave a 60-mile, hell-on-earth journey with the hopes of honoring their parent’s final wishes of escaping to freedom. Through sheer perseverance-- and the help of a few Marines-- Mina and Jae Sun make it to the sea and are rescued in what remains as the single largest seaborne evacuation of ‘enemy’ refugees in world history.
- GenresGraphic Novels
120 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 4, 2015
As luck would have it, I've read "The last stand of Fox Company" by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin a few weeks ago so the story is fresh in my mind which helped me follow the story better. I mean, I know who are Hector Caffareta (MoH), Captain Barber (MoH), 1st Lt Chew En Lee, 2nd Lt Owen (whose book "Colder than hell" is great by the way) and so on. They're part of the Marine lore and if a Marine should read this book he'll know who/what he's dealing with.
The average reader though might feel lost in a succession of scenes which sometimes seem put one after another with no real link in between.
But maybe I'm biased because I've read "The last stand..." and fill gaps the average reader won't feel the need to. But I'm sure that I enjoyed it all the more for this very reason.
I certainly don't want to belittle the work of the authors whose dedication cannot be denied and one must admit that choices have to be made when adapting such a story in the comic book form, with its limited number of pages. Because the collective action of Fox Coy is nothing but the sum of indivdual Marines fighting as a cohesive unit against an enemy 40 times superior in strength.
The art tends to be cartoony, sometimes awkward, sometimes pretty nice, especially during night scenes where the use of red/green tracers give an eerie impression of speedy/deadly fireflies. Red glowing eyes to figure the swarming chinese might seem cliché but I actually think it gives an adequate sense of the threat surrounding Fox. You might like the style or not but should recognize the artist as above average and this is not always the case (alas!) when one reads military history comics.
Comics dealing with the Korean War aren't legion around here. Let's hope the next one will be as good.
The average reader though might feel lost in a succession of scenes which sometimes seem put one after another with no real link in between.
But maybe I'm biased because I've read "The last stand..." and fill gaps the average reader won't feel the need to. But I'm sure that I enjoyed it all the more for this very reason.
I certainly don't want to belittle the work of the authors whose dedication cannot be denied and one must admit that choices have to be made when adapting such a story in the comic book form, with its limited number of pages. Because the collective action of Fox Coy is nothing but the sum of indivdual Marines fighting as a cohesive unit against an enemy 40 times superior in strength.
The art tends to be cartoony, sometimes awkward, sometimes pretty nice, especially during night scenes where the use of red/green tracers give an eerie impression of speedy/deadly fireflies. Red glowing eyes to figure the swarming chinese might seem cliché but I actually think it gives an adequate sense of the threat surrounding Fox. You might like the style or not but should recognize the artist as above average and this is not always the case (alas!) when one reads military history comics.
Comics dealing with the Korean War aren't legion around here. Let's hope the next one will be as good.
March 12, 2018
I don't normally read graphic novels, but I read this
because I was captivated by the animation short on YouTube titled 'Chosin: Baptized by Fire!'which based on this series.
The found the first part of the book 'Hold the Line' to have a more interesting story, but the artwork was very unappealing.
The second part 'To the Sea', was a little less interesting, but had much better illustrations.
because I was captivated by the animation short on YouTube titled 'Chosin: Baptized by Fire!'which based on this series.
The found the first part of the book 'Hold the Line' to have a more interesting story, but the artwork was very unappealing.
The second part 'To the Sea', was a little less interesting, but had much better illustrations.
November 4, 2016
A wonderful non-fiction graphic novel about the "forgotten victory." The story arc "To the Sea" is especially powerful. The visual metaphors and mindful storytelling showing both sides of the war, made the historical significance and the human sacrifice worthy of our attention.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews