Their mission is to seek out and destroy the Taurans, a bipedal alien race from the Taurus constellation at war with humanity after a hazy incident - remember this is a Vietnam War allegory - that led to the deaths of colonists on the other side of a “collapsar,” or black hole, used as an interstellar gateway. Haldeman, a combat engineer in Vietnam, tells the story of William Mandella, a young recruit to an elite corps of soldiers with the United Nations Exploratory Force. ‘The Forever War.’ Titan Comics illustration Titan Comics republished it in a series in 2017 and has the full-length collection arriving in December. I recently re-read the book, published in 1974, in the graphic novel form first published in 1988 and adapted by Haldeman and illustrated by Belgian artist Marvano. This, more than far-flung technology, is what The Forever War is about. Civilian life is decidedly lacking in this area. There is something to be said for the alienation which ex-soldiers experience in an atomized, individualistic society after leaving a tightly-knit group of warriors - who share deep bonds and loyalties between them borne from shared experiences. It’s too neat and tidy to say combat causes post-traumatic stress. I don’t know the war had anything to do with that last fact. government never called up his draft number and sent him into that nightmare. It was one of my father’s favorite novels and a salient work of military science fiction for the Vietnam generation. I first read Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War as a teenager.
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