40 hommes et 12 fusils: Indochine 1954

by Marcelino Truong (author and illustrator)

Hanoï, 1953. Minh est un jeune peintre francophile et passionné de peinture et de jazz. Alors que la guerre d'Indochine entre dans sa huitième année, il se réfugie à la campagne pour échapper à la conscription dans l'Armée nationale. Il découvre alors un village totalement sous l'emprise du Vietminh. Il n'a alors pas d'autre choix que de s'engager dans l'Armée populaire de libération.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, Comics, War, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels Comics, Art

296 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2022

About the author

Marcelino Truong is an illustrator, painter, and author. Born the son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy) and then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycee in London, then moved to Paris where he earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book probably deserves more than a 3, but I really hated the central character's character. I get how hard it can be to be able to live by your convictions in wartime, especially when you are forced to serve a side you wouldn't have picked, but the protagonist actually didn't have any convictions. He was the epitome of the kind of intellectual abhorrent to the Communists. And he lost me at the beginning with his half-hearted commitment to Lan. Even after all that he endured during the civil war, I could not find it in my heart to care about him even just a little.

I have very little understanding of the Vietnam War, so I'm always glad to read more about it. While I really hated this character, I did find the book to be somewhat informative. Since I learned something from it, I give the book a 3.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This historical fiction started strong as an artist, Tran Van Minh, the son of a petit bourgeois family in Hanoi, finds himself pressed into service with Ho Chi Minh's army to fight the French colonialists in the year leading up to the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. There's tension as he has to fear being killed by the enemy as well as his own comrades if his privileged background is revealed.

Unfortunately, the narrative just runs out of steam halfway through as the paranoia goes on a little too long and Minh spends a lot of time just marching around before he settles into a boring role drawing propaganda.

I found it annoying that while the story is entirely in first-person narrative, we are given access to secondary characters thoughts . . . but only when they are thinking how handsome Minh is. It becomes drinking game ludicrous at a certain point, and I started to wonder if the author was self-inserting and stroking his own ego.


(Best of 2023 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto NPR's Books We Love 2023: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels list.)

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marcelino Truong's two memoirs were interesting deep dives on the 20th century Vietnamese history and the Vietnamese diaspora. I enjoyed both, though they were wide-ranging and a little dense.

40 Men and 12 Rifles is written in the same style as the memoirs, but it's not a memoir. It's a graphic novel. So the text-heavy, extremely detailed writing style that Truong successfully employed in his memoirs comes off as overly verbose and boring here. We follow a young petit bourgeois artist, Minh, who is conscripted into the Communist army. This happens mostly against his will, though the way Minh goes along with the conscription is baffling.

There's a real lack of agency to Minh that makes him hard to root for. He flows along, following orders, occasionally grumbling about communist platitudes, but mostly just living his life as a starving soldier. He never seems to question his current state or consider possibly abandoning the army once he's conscripted. It's very much a "oh well, guess I'm here now" storytelling style that adds to the sense of dense, dull inactivity in the book.

Of course, Truong's art is gorgeous and experiencing Vietnam in the 1950s (ten years before the official Vietnam War) is quite interesting. As historical fiction, 40 Men and 12 Rifles is an interesting glimpse into an unfamiliar world. But since it's written like an unedited memoir, it's a surprisingly sleepy read.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd mix of biography and fiction. I liked the art and the story was engaging so at the end of the day it's a worthwhile read especially if you have never read any from the N Vietnamese perspective.

[Kiarra]

Couldn't finish this. I really wanted to, but it's just not for me. Don't want to give a review on something I didn't finish.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a place and time that I have interest in from reading other books. I know so little about it and am thirsting for more. This book started off strong but got very repetitive in the violence and propaganda (maybe that's the point?) I wanted more.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

My third graphic novel by Marcelino Trong. The first two were set in the early sixties, in Saigon, but this one goes back to the years before the 1954 Geneva convention that divided north from south Vietnam, and begins in Ha Noi. So if you are interested in history, and particularly the various Western incursions into Indochina, this is a rich and carefully researched graphic novel, historical fiction, delving into the political landscape through the lives of every day people across class lines and political inclinations.

The main character, Minh, is an artist, engaged to Lan, sent off by his father to take care of family property, kidnapped by northern Vietnamese communists (guided by Chinese nationalists), who force him into the army, and fed him and the peasant army of which he became a part propaganda 24/7. He was forced into being part of the propaganda art machine at a place where 40 artists (with only twelve guns on site) are available for their protection.

It's a sweeping historical fiction where you come to understand the place of art anf freedom of expression under a totalitarian regime. The principles of the 100 Flowers Campaign of Mao Zedong in China transplanted to Viet Nam became a fist of oppression and lies. This is superb comics history, an instant classic.

[Elena L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5/5 stars]

1953, Hà Nội on the verge of civil war - son of the big bureaucrat, Tran Van Minh is an aspiring painter who dreams of going to art school in Paris. Unsatisfied with his artistic life, his father sends him into the countryside to tend to the family holdings, but Minh ends up being recruited to serve the National Army.

This book substantially details the war in 1950s Indochina: the confront between People Liberation Army x Western Imperialists. Truong delivers the war reality, when acts of violence dominate and people fight for a cause. The unique aspect of this graphic novel is the incorporation of Minh as an artist-soldier in the war zone, which one will find elements of loyalty and family bond in the process. The story suffers a bit from being repetitive and rushes for a hopeful ending.

This is an extremely dense read, one that reader will have to pause in-between to wholly digest it. 40 MEN AND 12 RIFLES (tr. David Homel) is a deeply researched graphic novel with visually engaging art that offers an intimate look into the Vietnam war, recognizing the spirit of perseverance of Indochinese people. With its relevance, it is a part of history that one often overlooks.

[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - Arsenal Pulp press . All opinions are my own ]

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main lesson for me was that when the Chinese started heavily backing the Viet Minh with training and equipment, the Maoist emphasis on indoctrination and class warfare came with it. One of the older cadres explains to our narrator that in the early days the followers of Ho came from all walks of life and all were accepted. At the time, I don't believe I understood that. I thought Vietnamese communism was more about national independence than ideology. In this narrative, the profoundly irritating nature of the political indoctrination was portrayed more times than I needed. Most of the plot developments, such as the Hanoi girlfriend having had a baby before the now one-legged narrator made it back to the city, were trite. Well illustrated, but dead simple story-telling.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a floaty feeling to this book about Vietnam and war. I think it would be a good read for anyone who espouses communism and is an artist or part of the middle class. The whole thing is complicated but feels more against communism than the colonialism that came before.

I would like to read more about the time before. Not that I think either is desirable but to see what drove the Vietnamese to chose civil war. It seems more apt as I see what is happening in parts of the world right now.

There must be some lessons here.

Regardless, I found this to be a really nuanced book. Lovely in thoughts and ideas even when they were ugly realities.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

There's a lot of value to this book. In my life I've learned very little about this time and place so I found the subject matter to be very interesting.

This book is definitely significantly wordier than I prefer in graphic novels. It has a personal handwriting script which can be hard to read at times. The storyline gets pretty bogged down about halfway through the book. And, unfortunately, there is nothing in the opening or closing notes of this book that explains how much of the story is real or fictionalized.

[Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply researched and rich with details about Vietnamese life and history! Everyone you meet along the way represents another lived experience from this war, and the art is beautiful and evocative.

The story passes through key historical ideas and moments and introduces diverse stories of countrymen along the way, but ends up a little thin on relationships and character development, like a Forrest Gump graphic novel about Dien Bien Phu.

[Elodie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

On suit Minh, un vietnamien de la petite bourgeoisie qui est contraint de participer à la guerre d'Indochine.

J'ai trouvé le trait de crayon très beau !
Je ne connaissais rien ou presque à la guerre d'Indochine et ce roman graphique m'a permis d'en apprendre un peu plus tout en expliquant les bases afin qu'on puisse suivre l'histoire, peu importe notre niveau de connaissance.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of words, which gives the impression that it was based on authentic primary and secondary sources. however, i'm not sure which aspects reflected historical research and which parts reflected the author's creative discretion. overall an interesting read on the anti-french resistance war, which i personally have not seen discussed in such a format before

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tell us again how handsome the main character is. Truong takes on historical fiction after a couple great autobiographical graphic novels and I think that he missed the mark. It's no surprise that Truong is anti-VC but his protagonist in this story doesn't do a great job making the argument for the south Vietnamese position beyond "they made me create propaganda and embellish was stories".

[Nguyễn Thanh Hằng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truyện tranh vẽ rất đẹp, nội dung cũng ổn, mình tôn trọng những quan điểm riêng của tác giả được thể hiện trong đó. Nhiều đoạn bị cường điệu hoá và cực đoan, hơi thiếu tự nhiên trong dòng nội dung chung. Mình chấm truyện 3,6/5.

[Marguerite Hardass · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai adoré toutes les BD de Marcelino Truong mais j’ai trouvé celle-ci plus rude à lire, peut-être parce que plus didactique et dense historiquement, à travers beaucoup de détails et d’événements glaçants. Magnifique travail cependant, comme d’habitude.

[Duong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un roman graphique extrêmement documenté, captivant et passionnant !

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb illustration gives a glimpse of a history that I am largely ignorant of,...!

[Connie Whitcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading this. The graphics were great and the story riveting.

[Maria]

Such a slog. Very interesting for those who really want to understand subtle historical points, but I wasn't in the right head space. The MC is irritating.
It's not you, book, it's me :(

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a young man who finds himself caught between his vision for the future and revolutionary violence. Minh (no relation to Ho) wants to lead the life of an aspiring artist; he comes from a well to do family and enjoys French literature. His father sends him away to look after family property in the countryside. Minh is forced to joining the Ho Chi Minh People's Army. He eventually becomes part of the propaganda producing unit that is trying to win over the ‘hearts and minds’ of the people. Raw and intense, this GN pulls no punches showing how one can suffer more than one causality in war.