Towle Drawing Combat Animals for the Naval Institute

I haven’t talked much about Dead Reckoning, the graphic novel imprint of the Naval Institute Press, because their first four books were a little too military for me. (Usual disclaimer: there are so many things to read these days and so little time!)

But Ben Towle (Oyster War, Midnight Sun) has just announced that his next book will come out through that imprint. It’s called Four Fisted Tales: Animals in Combat, and that subject is one I definitely want to read about.

From hauling munitions to finding mines, and even being captured by the enemy and traded in a PoW exchange, animals have fought — and often died — alongside their human counterparts in virtually every military conflict in recorded history. There are plenty of graphic novels telling the stories of the men and women who’ve fought in the trenches, jungles, and deserts of the world’s battlefields; Four Fisted Tales: Animals in Combat tells the stories of the animals who fought alongside them.

Towle is forecasting that we’ll see it in two years or so and it “comprises fifteen short stories about various animals used in combat — dogs, a bear, dolphins, rats, and more.” The preview art below comes from his post at the link above, and he’s also got some interesting notes about creative methods and how the book came to be. I’m ready to read it whenever it’s ready!