Rating: 
Summary: Stars and stripes forever
Review: "Uncle Sam" rightfully takes its place next to "V for Vendetta," "Maus" and "I Saw It." It is a rare achievement in comics, for a major company to put forth a book that has something to say on a subject other than comics. Speaking with a remarkable eloquence, "Uncle Sam" speaks of symbols and countries, and what it means to be patriotic, and to have faith in a symbol. The message is not an easy one to decipher, which is proper considering the complexity of the issue. There are layers here. The art is, of course, incredible, as one comes to expect from Alex Ross. He has really outdone himself, and this is obviously a labor of love that goes above and beyond his fanboy's love of comics. He uses a variety of artistic influences and imagery. Like the storyline itself, a deeper knowledge of American art history aids the appreciation. This book combines everything that is unique and relevant about the medium of comics. Words and pictures together, telling a story in a way impossible to either alone.
Rating:
Summary: Is he one of U.S.?
Review: A disheveled, homeless man, dressed in a torn and stained Uncle Sam costume, is led out of a hospital in New York City and onto the street. He shouts incessantly in the form of soundbites and political quotations. He has flashbacks of a life in various periods of American history, and horrific visions of America today. Is he just another human wreckage living in his own personal nightmare? Or is he the real "Uncle Sam"? The symbol and icon of the Great Republic? Steve Darnall (writer), Alex Ross (artist) and Todd Klein (letterer) have created a magnificent treatment of the "Uncle Sam" mythos, super-imposing the idealized republic against the bloody history and chaotic present of the USA. Originaly printed as a two issue comic book by DC Comics (the people who brought you that other icon of America, Superman), both issues are collected in one volume. Regardless of your political opinion, be you patriot or revolutionary, this book will make you stop and think about the difference between the ideal and the reality. Kirkus Reviews wrote it better than I ever could: "More explicitedly radical than anything from DC Comics in recent history...a damning account of American political history that also affirms basic democratic ideals." Put away of your notions about what you consider a "comic book" to be, and read this!
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful art, lacking story
Review: Alex Ross does a phenomenal job here. I'm not much a fan of his work, but do recognize his talent. Steve Darnall's writing leaves something to be desired. Perhaps 7 years ago this story would seem a radical piece of literature but it's very uninteresting in today's political climate, where both pro and con arguments about the spirit of the U.S. choke airwaves and bandwidth. One measure of an artwork's quality is the ability to remain relevant. This book doesn't meet that measure.
Rating:
Summary: The American Experiment vs. Manifest Destiny
Review: Darnell and Ross have wrought a powerful tale in a slim little package. Both the prose and the pictures are so detailed and tactile that each time you pick up Uncle Sam it astounds. How can they can load it up with so much and still tell a short story that's so nice and tight? Alex Ross has captured Norman Rockwell's feel for Americana and morphed it into a gritty photo-realism that's immediate and on point. My only problem with this historical allegory is none of those eye-opening quotes are footnoted. I know that's not a common comics criticism and obviously footnotes were avoided to hold the focus on the story, but we are dealing with some pretty obscure and volatile history here. Readers will want proof, more or both. Moreover, those quotes come from some fairly majestic texts that merit their own reading. Legitimate narrative concerns understandably won out, but it still teases the readers; so out of civic spirit, I'll provide some leads. Here's a fuller version of that stunning Lincoln quote in the men's room scene (with citation): "It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war." - Lincoln in a letter to William F. Elkins, Nov 21st, 1864 Major General Smedley Butler's words in Uncle Sam are no less startling. He bluntly admitted to having been "a gangster for capitalism" and lists each Marine incursion made for business interests masquerading as national concerns. The lines come from a blistering article against imperialism printed in "Common Sense". Portions of it can be found on the websites of Marines, pacifists, socialists and American Legionnaires. Unmentioned in Uncle Sam, is that in 1934 this two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient exposed a fascist plot by members of America's leading capitalist families to launch a coup against Roosevelt (Read all about it in Jules Archer's The Plot to Seize the White House, 1973.) Here is a true blue American hero if ever there was one. Now why the hell haven't we heard of him? I bet you can guess. Most conservatives won't like Uncle Sam. They'll call it "one-sided" - as if the version of history taught in classrooms isn't essentially theirs, with a token pinch of diversity thrown in (and they fuss and moan about that too). They don't like any medicine in their sugar and they sure get ornery if you shoehorn any history into their mythology, however little. Uncle Sam can be bitter medicine, but it's essential to anyone who cares about America. What makes Uncle Sam so important is that it reanimates a patriotism we can be proud of. In his latest screed, Nazi apologist Pat Buchanan accuses liberals of perverting patriotism from "a love of place into a love of process". That "process" is democracy and that love is precisely what defines us as Americans. As Ben Franklin said, "Where ever there is liberty, there is my country". Since September eleventh, both kinds of patriotism have reawakened with a vengeance and both the best and the worst of us have come to fore. It is high time we listened to what Lincoln called "the angels of our better nature" now that the "Culture War" has begun in earnest and our government's flirtation with fascism has progressed to heavy petting.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Piece of Propaganda
Review: I am a fan of the illustrations of Alex Ross, and he is the only reason frankly why I ever picked up this Godforsaken book. Not to get me wrong, as the work done by Ross in this book is spectacular as always, and perhaps here more thought provoking. Nontheless, the story is patriotically bankrupt, and it's influence by the Communist "People's History of America" quite frankly disgusts me. Indeed, it does have some interesting observations to make, but rather than be balanced and open ended it instead makes a firm home in the far left and restricts it's numerous attacks to the Republican Party. Especially after 9/11, I find many of the opinions expressed in this book frigtening, and I sincerely question the values of any reader who doesn't. If you buy it, do it for the pictures, but God forbid you do it for the propaganda.
Rating:
Summary: This isn't a "comic book" at all...
Review: So much as a statement on the horrors of America. "Uncle Sam" travels through American history and shows us the bare, un-cushioned facts about where we were, where we are, and how we got here. Uncle Sam, representing the ideals of freedom, justice and fairness for all, is brought face to face with the spirit of America, totally different from himself, and in the meantime, is down on his luck, a bum on the street wrestling with his mind and his thoughts of the past. Who he is, what he stands for. Uncle Sam speaks, for large parts of this graphic novel, only in presidential sound bites. But as time goes on, he begins to hear other voices from the back of his mind or from the shadows in alleyways that tell a different story. They tell the truth; that America is not some champion of truth and justice, and worse yet, in more recent years, has stopped trying to be. That really hit it home.
To someone who's always believed in America and American Government, this book might come across as horrific or cynical, but I can assure you, it's coldly accurate in the particulars of every event it depicts.
Still, it's not without faults.
With three exceptions, the swearing in this book was, I felt, unnecesary. That's the first fault I found. Secondly, near the beginning, they touch a bit on the issue of gay rights, in which they show protestors while seeming to imply a horror, yet the right of the people to assemble being trampled on is also attacked later in the book, and honestly, I felt that it seemed to be contradicting itself. Lastly, aside from an attack against all fanatics of this sort, the book didn't touch upon the most important issue of today; Abortion. The leading cause of death in our nation and one of the leading causes of breast cancer and infertility in women.
Still, this book has things to say, and it isn't afraid to say them, and miraculously, I felt somewhat refreshed after having read it, because like Sam, I too can see past the sweet words of politicians to their true meanings, and it was nice to be validated by someone after having "we're the best, we're the greatest nation on Earth" shoved down my throat from so many different angles. If you're over 20 or so, this is worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: This isn't a "comic book" at all...
Review: So much as a statement on the horrors of America. "Uncle Sam" travels through American history and shows us the bare, un-cushioned facts about where we were, where we are, and how we got here. Uncle Sam, representing the ideals of freedom, justice and fairness for all, is brought face to face with the spirit of America, totally different from himself, and in the meantime, is down on his luck, a bum on the street wrestling with his mind and his thoughts of the past. Who he is, what he stands for. Uncle Sam speaks, for large parts of this graphic novel, only in presidential sound bites. But as time goes on, he begins to hear other voices from the back of his mind or from the shadows in alleyways that tell a different story. They tell the truth; that America is not some champion of truth and justice, and worse yet, in more recent years, has stopped trying to be. That really hit it home.
To someone who's always believed in America and American Government, this book might come across as horrific or cynical, but I can assure you, it's coldly accurate in the particulars of every event it depicts.
Still, it's not without faults.
With three exceptions, the swearing in this book was, I felt, unnecesary. That's the first fault I found. Secondly, near the beginning, they touch a bit on the issue of gay rights, in which they show protestors while seeming to imply a horror, yet the right of the people to assemble being trampled on is also attacked later in the book, and honestly, I felt that it seemed to be contradicting itself. Lastly, aside from an attack against all fanatics of this sort, the book didn't touch upon the most important issue of today; Abortion. The leading cause of death in our nation and one of the leading causes of breast cancer and infertility in women.
Still, this book has things to say, and it isn't afraid to say them, and miraculously, I felt somewhat refreshed after having read it, because like Sam, I too can see past the sweet words of politicians to their true meanings, and it was nice to be validated by someone after having "we're the best, we're the greatest nation on Earth" shoved down my throat from so many different angles. If you're over 20 or so, this is worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Reviews That Dimiss as Leftist have missed point entirely.
Review: Some of the above reviews claim the book is leftist propaganda - mere rhetoric to support a Democratic point of view. I have to disagree. Republicans would see it that ways since it's really an indictment polarized thinking and blind faith in extremes. Nowhere in the work does it say "socialism is good" - what it does say is unbrindled capitalism and concentration of wealth and power in a priveleged class is NOT what was promised by the American Revolution. It's not really about left and right - it more about hope and ignorance. The kind of ignorance that trys to reduce every arguement to right/wrong or left/right. The kind ignorance that makes people say "My country right or wrong." or "If you're not with us, you're against us." It's about the American Dream versus the American Reality. This book is more important today than ever, and every American should have to confront the issues that Uncle Sam confronts in this excellent work.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking; a little hard to follow
Review: Summary: The main character of the book is Uncle Sam; yes, that's right, the Uncle Sam that has been used as a symbol of the U.S.A. for over a hundred years. But the Uncle Sam we follow through the book isn't the proud, clean cut, aging Uncle that always seems so forthright and bold. Instead, he is a drunken bum that has lost all sense of who he is and what he stands for. It is only through a series of flashbacks (to the revolutionary war, to the slaughtering of Native American Indians, and to numerous other times and places, both real and fictitious), that Sam realizes who he once was and the potential he once possessed. The climax of the book is a showdown between the real Uncle Sam, the one who stands for freedom, liberty, and democracy, and an imposter, who represents the interests of big business and political sell-outs. The real Uncle Sam wins, but only because he is able to destroy the fake Uncle Sam's fraudulent front by helping modern Americans realize they are being deceived on numerous fronts, including the media and advertising. My Comments: Uncle Sam is essentially an extended comic book, which I wasn't quite expecting. Despite agreeing with the basic premise (at least, my interpretation of the intended premise, which is outlined above), I wasn't wholly impressed by the book. The main reason I was not impressed is because the authors, though they obviously have an agenda, don't make it very clear at times. Sometimes it seems like they are trying to criticize everything about America and at other times it seems like they are trying to say that America is a great country. For instance, the authors level a strong criticism at Caucasians (the majority of Americans), "The white men do not scalp the head. They do worse. They poison the heart." Then the authors turn around and say stuff like, "At that point, America had two options. Either correct our mistakes and learn from them... or live behind a wall held together with cynicism and brute force and deny everything." So, which is it? Are Caucasians really the problem (a claim similar to Michael Moore's in `Stupid White Men', which, ironically, suffers from the same ambiguity) or have Americans just made some mistakes and still have the potential for greatness? (Note, I'm not equating American and Caucasian; that implication is made by the authors.) The book doesn't have a definitive answer. My second criticism is that the story is a bit hard to follow. The slightest thing can launch Sam into the past or bring him back to the future or even send him into some nether region where national mascots (Brittania, Columbia, etc.) actually exist. You don't ever really know where he is going, and it takes at least a few scenes in order to figure it out. Sometimes it never really even makes sense why he went there in the first place, other than perhaps to make a seemingly unrelated point (e.g., backstabbing Indians). The book is generally engaging, but because it is hard to follow and isn't always completely clear, I don't think this is a great novel. Yes, the graphics are pretty cool. And it's nice that there is an effort made to criticize America by pointing out some remediable problems. But the arguments could have been clearer. I generally recommend this novel, but warn potential readers that it isn't very clear.
Rating:
Summary: Of course Uncle Sam is schizo....
Review: The fundamental premise of this book is that Uncle Sam, living symbol of his nation and one time super-hero, is now a wandering, homeless, schizophrenic trying to piece his mind ,and his soul, back together. It makes sense that Sam would become schizophenic, a split, fragmented personality, for as this story points out, the Ideal of America has very seldom lived up to the Reality of America. Indeed, today we are more divided than ever before into a nation of haves and have-nots.
This is not simple-minded, knee-jerk, liberal propaganda. It is all the real truth- the truth you are seldom taught in school. Indeed it is the "forbidden truth" that you are not supposed to speak lest you be labeled a "subversive", or these days, a "terrorist".
My favorite scene is Uncle Sam staring at the musket in his hands during Shay's Rebellion and realising, "The dream isn't failing--it was never allowed to suceed." You see, the government has always, really, been in the pockets of the banks and the rich.
I liked this graphic novel so much that I finally bought my own copy of _The People's History of the United States_, from which much of the content is taken.
As for those who call this a "disgusting piece of propaganda", well, you know they are either one of the "haves", or are in the pay of the haves- or, like Uncle Sam, they just haven't put their minds back together yet.
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