Memorial Day

Well, it’s Memorial Day.

I’m not a huge fan of the modern incarnation of Memorial Day. It’s gotten to where it’s less about honoring those who died in wars and more about glorifying war, and that’s not a trend to emulate.

I never wanted to be in the military, and I’m glad I never served. My father served stateside and never tried to fill our heads with nonsense about treating veterans like pagan gods to be worshiped by a war-loving nation.

And I was never a big fan of war comics — at least until I got old enough to read them in the massive phone-book editions. Comics about the Losers or Sgt. Rock might have plenty of explosions and ricochets whining past the heroes and desperate battles against grinning Nazi ghouls — but “Nothing’s ever easy in Easy Company,” and war was depicted as a desolate, depressing chore.

There’s no glory in the best war comics — particularly the ones written by Bob Kanigher and illustrated by the great Joe Kubert. There’s just people suffering through hell, sometimes winning, sometimes losing — and losing good soldiers much, much too often — and always wishing they didn’t have to fight anymore.

So remember what Memorial Day is about — remembering those who’ve died, sometimes for our country, sometimes for some damn oil company’s profits — and working to make sure no one else has to die in any future wars.