The pursuit of freedom

More Free Planet bibliography and new reviews

Before we get into the meat of this week’s newsletter – discussing Hugh Thomas’ Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom and its influence on Free Planet – some quick links for those looking for them:

Free Planet reviews:

• “Free Planet May Just Be Comics’ Great Sci-Fi Masterpiece (and It’s Changing the Genre)” at ComicBook.com

• Michael Fitzgerald Troy’s video review of Free Planet #2

• Richard Coryell’s written review at Nerd Initiative

Issue previews:

• Free Planet #1 – bit.ly/ForLutheria

• Free Planet #2 – bit.ly/CraterWasRight

• Free Planet #3 – bit.ly/OrouranAttack

Buy Free Planet:

• Set up a subscription at your local comic shop

• Order signed copies of my work

The pursuit of freedom

That’s the subtitle; in light of that and how much I love Hugh Thomas’ exhaustive history of the Spanish Civil War, it should come as no surprise that his doorstop of a volume on Cuba was another enormously valuable resource when constructing the world of Free Planet. You can likely see a lot of it on the page, like my local comic shop manager who, after reading Free Planet #1, said that Lutheria’s struggles reminded her of Cuba.

The influence of Thomas’ history – covering a vast time period, from the English takeover of Havana in 1762 up to the then-present Castro-led state of 1971 – comes through in a variety of ways: the mono-commodity economy, the cultural importance of religion, the complexity of interlocking racial and class identities, and, of course, the difficulties faced by a state attempting to exist outside of an existing and dominant hegemony.

However, the most acute influence that Cuba had on Free Planet was in its discussion of the role of the military, particularly noncommissioned officers.

“The military has revolutionary potential” is a common bon mot in left-leaning circles; it’s an acknowledgement that, while the military in the US has historically been largely right-leaning, this has more to do with the specifics of the US context than anything inherent to militaries more broadly. Accounts like Cuba and Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution make this fact explicitly clear: It’s not merely a matter of revolutionary potential; the military is an utterly crucial component of any successful revolution.

The reason behind this is remarkably, distressingly simple: The military has the guns. If the goal is overthrowing an existing, hegemonic system, having more guns than the people benefiting from the dominant system is nonnegotiable. This is why Free Planet is, at its heart, a military story; any narrative about a revolution that fails to center the military is just a naive, liberal pipedream.

But what Cuba drove home so exceptionally clearly was the value of noncommissioned officers specifically. Most militaries – contemporary and historical – divide their forces into two broad categories: Officers, which typically graduate from a military college or arrive with a degree from another university, and enlisted soldiers. Each has their own track and, outside of rather rare circumstances, there’s no jumping between the two, with officers giving the orders and enlisted soldiers following them.

However, there exists a subcategory of enlisted soldiers: Noncommissioned officers, who act as a type of midpoint, translating officer-set strategy into actionable tactics for the enlisted soldiers under their command. While officers – typically coming from and returning to monied classes – are often aligned with the ruling regime, NCOs have class interests much closer to those of their fellow enlisted soldiers, who generally come from more working class backgrounds.

This distinction is a crucially important one. Numerous times in Cuba’s history, the country’s NCOs – in acknowledgement that their interests were more closely aligned with workers and revolutionary parties – turned against their superiors, providing tactical knowledge, command hierarchy, and much-needed numbers and munitions to developing revolutions.

This fact stuck with me for a few reasons. First, it once again gives lie to the twin fantasies of militaries being inherently right wing and of a revolution ever being successful without the military. Second, it’s a clear demonstration of competing class interests at play within an institution generally viewed as monolithic. As a result, the tension between officers, NCOs, and enlisted soldiers became a crucial part of Free Planet, specifically in the backstory of Commander Gloria Sunandez, as explored in the very first issue.

However, simply reading about historical revolutions wasn’t sufficient for my purposes. To better explore and illustrate the complex dynamics between officers, enlisted soldiers and NCOs, I embarked on numerous interviews with veterans across branches and even countries. It was enormously helpful for my understanding not only of the world we’re building but the general milieu in which servicemembers exist in the contemporary US.

Just like when I wrote The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, my goal with Free Planet is to be challenging and truthful but also respectful. That’s not to say that the military is always portrayed in a positive light but that everything that occurs is, at the very least, plausible in the context of a developed and functioning military, featuring characters that behave, not as set design, but as rational actors with their own worldviews. It’s one of many priorities that I’m juggling while writing Free Planet, which is why it’s so gratifying to hear from veterans who appreciate and respond to the approach we’re taking.

NEXT WEEK: Its another chance for you, the faithful and dedicated readers of this Atlantis still sunk, to decide what I discuss.

Aubrey