We need more reminders that war is hell.
The conflicts between Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, India and Pakistan are fought by people. They cost lives, destroy families, and result in collateral damage that spreads across the world. And it’s almost never the people who started the war who pay the price for the crimes committed in their name.
Classical literature reflects the human cost of war more unflinchingly than even most journalism. Case in point, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, about a Union Army private who flees from battle during the Civil War. Published in 1895, critics marveled at the then-24-year-old author’s attention to detail, with The New York Times writing that the novel “strikes the reader as a statement of facts by a veteran.” Crane’s work would inspire even more war-critical fiction after World War I.
French illustrator Steve Cuzor has adapted The Red Badge of Courage as a graphic novel, published by Abrams ComicArts and scheduled for release this week (bookstores Tuesday, comic shops Wednesday). Check out our exclusive excerpt, and keeping scrolling for the basic deets.
Written by Stephen Crane when he was just 24, The Red Badge of Courage is a Civil War story that captured the imaginations of readers worldwide and made its author an overnight literary icon. Now artist Steve Cuzor and Abrams ComicArts are publishing a powerful graphic novel adaptation of the classic and genre-defining war novel. Cuzor’s stark yet detailed artwork in The Red Badge of Courage perfectly captures the realistic prose of the original novel, presenting a lushly illustrated, unflinching depiction of war through the eyes of a young, inexperienced soldier.
A groundbreaking and realistic examination of the psychological effects of war, The Red Badge of Courage draws from firsthand accounts and research and has been continuously in print since its publication in 1894. Crane’s depiction of his main character, Henry Fleming, and his internal monologue, ring so true that many readers mistook Crane for a veteran himself. The realistic prose and visceral descriptions of battle that Crane used marked the first shift away from uncritical patriotism in war literature. It would take until at least the 1920s and the wake of the horror of the First World War for the rest of the genre to catch up. In the years following its publication, The Red Badge of Courage was hailed by Crane scholar Henry Wertheim as “unquestionably the most realistic novel about the American Civil War,” while Ernest Hemingway called the novel an “American classic.”
“By illustrating Crane’s classic story, Cuzor pulls readers into the midst of the action, making Henry Fleming’s experience feel all the more visceral,” said Abrams Comic Arts Publisher Joseph Montagne. “Literary aficionados and students alike will find another layer of this classic story to appreciate in this new adaptation of Crane’s magnum opus.”
The Red Badge of Courage graphic novel adaptation by Steve Cuzor will be available in bookstores on Tuesday, May 13th and in comic shops on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025.
Buy The Red Badge of Courage here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
