Arrowsmith: So Smart in Their Fine Uniforms Book

Every Busiek comic I've read feels like a workshop for telling stories in the comic book medium. He fills his books with so much character and charm, weaving long and short plot arcs and always focussing on psychological progression. He just makes it look so easy.

There is something rudimentary in this collection, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Busiek is staying very true to his sources, lifting liberally from War Stories and Fairy Tales, using all the cliches, but somehow, making us care about them again.

Solid little piece of storytelling worth studying if you have a mind to try plotting some comics. It's all streamlined, nothing superfluous, and yet he's not bashing us over the head with it.

While some authors might be inclined to rush through a story like this, supplementing the familiar with their own unpredictable twists to keep it from feeling dull, Busiek instead gives us to us straight, trusting in the depth of his characters and world to carry us through a story we have seen before.

Just goes to show, you don't have to be wacky and mind-bending to write a good story in comics these days; just because yelling is the loudest way to say something doesn't make it the best. Sometimes a quiet tone can carry more force, depending on what's behind it.

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