NO-MAN’S LAND

 No-Man’s land. It was the designation of the land between the trenches, the site of numerous battles, the cemetery of millions of men of different nationalities.

It was a land boundaried by the trenches. Four hundred and fifty miles of a network of tunnels and maze-like entrenchments that ran from the border of Switzerland to the Baltic Sea.

At night, small projected flares were shot up that slowly parachuted down...casting an eerie green or yellow light in the shifting silhouettes that slowly marched. It was a sign of relief for those in the trenches, awaiting the shadowy figures approaching for they knew they had the safety of the trenches against those who dared to breach the desolate and death filled wastelands known as No-Man’s Land.

This story follows a young French soldier as he grows from being a novice to a man of experience and what he has to overcome. Based on a true episode where the French Army revolted and refused to fight any longer, Paul must decide between patriotism and fighting a useless battle.

Told in a narration flashback as Paul lies dying on the battle field, we see the different stages as he grows in experience and immunity against death. Visited by the ghosts of his former friends who have died in battle, we are taken back to see the various scenes that have put Paul in his current predicament.

A chilling account of the savagery of World War I, No-Man’s Land delivers a powerful testament to mankind’s achievements in both honor and atrocity. It is a saga of death and what would compel people to give their lives.

"Before the war, it seemed incredible that such terrors and slaughters could last more than a few months. After the first two years, it was difficult to believe that they would ever end."

--- Winston Churchill, 1918.

 Released from Tome Press and illustrated by Charles Yates.  Written by Gary Reed (but under a different name).

Gary Reed’s Thoughts and Notes about No Man’s Land.
I’ve always found the trench warfare of World War I fascinating.  Men sitting in trenches full of rats and disease and then at the sound of a whistle would charge across open terrirory just to be slaughtered.  When I came across a reference about a group of French soldiers who decided not to venture out into the killing fields, it intrigued me and I decided to do a story about it.  Chuck Yates was the artist.  It was my first time playing with narration devices as it starts with the lead character on the field dying and utilizes flashbacks.  I think I’ve always had the fascination with the soldiers in the trenches since I read Johnny Got His Gun which was something I read as a kid and it has always stayed with me.