The University of Regina is exploring the First World War’s sombre legacy through comic books.

Sylvain Rheault, associate French professor at the University of Regina, will give a presentation Wednesday as part of a lecture series on the historical and cultural significance of 1914.

Rheault will examine the works of Jacques Tardi and the comic series Charley’s War. The graphic novels were produced in the 1970s and critically examined the Great War and its permanent effects on soldiers. For Rheault, these works provide a counter-balance to media depicting soldiers as unfaltering heroes triumphing against the opposition.

“These comics are showing the war in anti-heroic fashion as opposed to the heroic view we see on TV … what I want to show is how these comics are presenting the war in an anti-heroic way.”

Although mainstream works like Marvel’s recent Captain America: The Winter Soldier critique government surveillance, Rheault said the comics he studies strike at something bleaker and more complicated.

“What Charley’s War and Tardi are doing is criticizing the political orientation of a society. Superman may criticize the government, but he will never talk about the American way of life, the capitalist society. He may say that it’s bad to install surveillance cameras and spy but they can work things out eventually. For Charley’s War, the premise of the organization of society is at fault here. It’s because there are poor people and rich people and things are not working out properly. They are not showing the way out, but they are showing the consequences.”

Rheault provided further evidence as he recalled the ending to Charley’s War:

Protagonist Charley Bourne survives the war, but he’s forced to live on social welfare. Captain America can punch out HYDRA agents and return home mentally unscathed; Bourne begs for change to afford a movie ticket. According to Rheault, Bourne’s struggle resembles “what happened to a lot of (soldiers) after the first war.”

Rheault said those soldiers returning from Afghanistan suffered similar traumas of First World War survivors, without most of the social benefits offered by the government.

“After every war there would be a big increase in services provided by government. Social insurance, employment insurance, and stuff like that. The same after the Second World War; after the war, services were provided, but after that the government is trying to take back some of those services.”

Rheault said those returning from the Afghanistan conflict don’t have improved services. “Since there’s not that same number of veterans, there’s not as much progress made in terms of services.”

He said the poorer treatment of soldiers returning from the war is an old lesson that continues to repeat itself throughout history.

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