El Barón Rojo

by Wayne Vansant

La historia gráfica del circo volante de Richtofen y la guerra en el aire en la Primera Guerra Mundial.

En El Barón Rojo, el dibujante y guionista Wayne Vansant ilustra la increíble historia de Manfred von Richthofen, cuya inigualable destreza como piloto del Servicio Aéreo Imperial alemán lo convirtió en una celebridad tanto en el aire como en tierra. Vansant retrata la temible inteligencia y consciencia en pleno vuelo que le harían conseguir ochenta victorias aéreas documentadas en el Frente Occidental. Desde sus inicios como soldado de caballería y piloto en ciernes, pasando por los años que estuvo dirigiendo el Jasta 11 desde la cabina de su famoso avión rojo, hasta su mando de la ultramóvil Jagdgeschwader 1 (acertadamente bautizada como «El Circo Volante de Richthofen» por nerviosos enemigos debido a los coloridos aviones y aeródromos móviles del grupo), El Barón Rojo da vida a la historia de esta legendaria figura.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, War, Nonfiction, Comics, World War I, Germany

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

I was born and raised near Atlanta, GA, and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. I graduated from the Atlanta College of Art in 1975 and have had many jobs, including being a salesman, security guard, milk delivery man, and the Director of Security for a large art museum.

I began my writing and illustration career in 1986 with Marvel Comics' "Savage Tales" and "The 'Nam." Since then I have written and/or illustrated many books and comics on historical/military subjects such as Battle Group Peiper, Days of Darkness, Antietam: The Fiery Trial (commissioned by the National Park Service), Blockade: The Civil War at Sea, The War in Korea, The Hammer and the Anvil (profiling Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass), Normandy (profiling D-Day and the entire Normandy Campaign), Gettysburg (profiling the Battle of Gettysburg), and many others.

I am currently working on graphic histories of the Battle of the Bulge, Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, and and am finishing up my Russian Front trilogy entitled Katusha: Girl Soldier of the Patriotic War, which is currently available as an eBook on Comics Plus, a leading comics book app.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well (and after doing a bit of online research), quite a number of reviews for Wayne Vansant's 2014 The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI seem to claim that having Vansant start his graphic novel neither with Manfred von Richthofen's biographical background and his life as a member of the German nobility (and with the resulting privileges of birth and wealth, including a totally weird and all encompassing love of hunting, of shooting and killing wildlife) nor with him switching from the cavalry (from combat on horseback) to the air service (to combat via airplanes) but rather with an account of what was the German pilot’s 11th victory, with his eleventh "kill" (showing textually and also of course considering that The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI is a graphic novel visually seven pages depicting in really meticulous and exaggerated detail the aerial duel between Manfred von Richthofen in an Albatross and British major Lanoe G. Hawker flying a De Havilland D.H. 2 and resulting in the Victoria Cross winning Harper's death), and that this sequence (following the turns and dives of two skilled pilots and with von Richthofen emerging victorious and Hawker ending up deceased but "respected" in death) is supposedly an entertaining and engagingly ripping account of high adventure which effectively draws readers into The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI and makes us hungry for and wanting more, more, more of the same.

But sorry, and for me both personally and emotionally, I have in fact found that opening sequence of The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI rather majorly nauseating and basically (in my humble opinion) more a case of Wayne Vansant's text and accompanying cartoon like artwork inappropriately celebrating and feting death, destruction and making WWI air combats seem like something exciting and entertaining and the pilots (German, French and British) as glorious and as knights in their proverbially shining armour (and not as what they in my opinion basically ALWAYS were, proverbial cannon fodder for the glory of European generals and monarchs, since for me, WWI basically and totally shows how the family squabbles between the inbred and ridiculous crowned heads of Europe, of especially Wilhelm II of Germany, George V of England and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia not only caused massive death and pain but also ushered in WWII by making monsters like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini appealing in the aftermath, and not to mention the Russian Revolution and emergence and power of Leninism and later Stalinism).

Therefore, although with The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI Wayne Vansant does certainly provide a for the most part factual and realistic account of Manfred von Richthofen's life (and his death) and that Vansant fortunately does not ever try to depict and write about the German WWI pilots as horrible, as monsters and the French, British and American pilots as shiningly angelic (or indeed vice versa), Wayne Vansant's rather positive (and also uncritical regarding war in general) textual stance towards WWI aerial combat, this does hugely bother me and also makes me quite disappointed and only able to give a very low and grudging three star rating for The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI (and that my three stars are three and not two stars solely because the information Wayne Vansant provides on French, British and German WWI airplanes is interesting and the list of titles for further reading much appreciated, but that for me and to me The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI too much glorifies and celebrates WWI and WWI flying aces where Wayne Vansant really should be casting a critical eye on this and to consider WWI and war in general as wantonly destructive and a strange cult of celebrating death and mayhem).

And finally, regarding the illustrations for The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI (and as a person of German background who is short, has green eyes and dark brown hair), I am honestly also quite visually annoyed and frustrated that basically ALL of the German WWI flying aces encountered in The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI are depicted, are drawn by Wayne Vansant as supposedly being tall and with blond hair. For come on, that really and problematically kind of buys into Adolf Hitler and the the Nazi's concept of us Germans supposedly being some kind of a superior race of tall and blond haired individuals, which is not only horrid in and of itself and a huge part of vile and hateful National Socialist ideology (including the Holocaust) but is also totally scientifically and genetically ignorant and erroneous in so many ways, since the blond and tall German "ideal" of Adolf Hitler actually pertains much more to Scandinavia than to Germany (except to an extent in pats of Northern Germany), and yes, I really wish that Wayne Vansant would not be perpetuating that ridiculously silly and dangerous myth with his otherwise pretty decent and realistic artwork in The Red Baron: The Graphic History of Richthofen's Flying Circus and the Air War in WWI.

[Daniel Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was ever a Nazi's story told? Have you ever wondered what Nazi's where going through there head, during WWI? I read a TRUE story about a pilot Nazi fighter, in comic book. By Wayne Vansant.
In 1903 the Wright brothers created A first powered aircraft. Years later the aircraft was improved and was used for battle in WWI. Baron Manfred Albrecht Freiherr Von Richthofen was one of the many pilots fighting in WWI. With 80 successful kills, with yet to be broken, Richthofen was the most famous pilot in the world. At age 25, 7 days Richthofen died. With the best pilot gone the enemies celebrated.
I believe the book is about thrills of flying planes. Richthofen was a successful pilot in WWI in 1914. Later in 1916 Richthofen was successful for his 20th kill. In example Richthofen colors his plane all red, to notice what they were up against. He became so successful, he was leaded to accomplish a mission with his squad that he is leading. Leading to this, he was unhappy leaving his crew behind.
This good comic book is interesting for the pictures and the fact it takes place in WWI. Interesting for the good art drawings, the book talks about troubles of war with British. While both wars weren't pretty, war takes a big part in history, leaving stories to tell. Richthofen's was a fantastic book of war in the air. In example during his death, many enemies celebrated for their greatest threat. He was honored for the Nazi's.
I give the book a 4 stars. This is a very good war book about airplanes. This book gave me information I didn't know, but not in a boring way. I recommend this book to people who are interested in war and who are interested in WWI.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very detailed history of air warfare during WWI, with a focus on Germany and Manfred von Richthofen - the Red Baron. What I knew about the Red Baron prior to reading this book was a result of reading Peanuts for years, which is to say I didn't know much. Wayne Vasant does an admirable job of providing a great deal of information about Richthofen and his Flying Circus. The picture that I've always held of WWI is of trench warfare, gas masks, and barbed wire. Fighting in the air, though, was a different type of war altogether. Vasant likens it to knights with codes of chivalry, involving grace, skill, and luck. Many pilots were killed through accidents and faulty machinery. I finished this book with a better sense of history and a greater understanding of the role planes played in this type of warfare.

So why three stars? This felt like reading a textbook. While I have a better general knowledge of the war, I didn't feel like I got to know Richthofen. The art didn't play into the narrative very often - if you were to take the text away, I wouldn't have had a good sense of story from what was happening. The art itself is fine, and there's great attention to the planes. But the characters look largely interchangeable. The dogfights all looked the same to me. There were so many people to keep track of, and so much covered, it really felt like I was going to have to make an index card of notes to remember everyone - and prepare for the big midterm exam! I just couldn't get into this story.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to do a Q&A with the homeschoolers as part of our World History series. Plus, when you work with boys, comic books win the day. Vansant is a hero in this regard because he turns the bits of history into fun for the students.

That being said, like Vansant's other books I did not really enjoy the book. It was a narrative with lots of pictures, an easy read, and fairly interesting. Despite of this, I found it not quite what I expected for a comic book, and not in depth enough for a history book. As a biography of the Red Baron, it fell short in my eyes for I learnt practically nothing about the man and legend.

But that does not effect it's level of educational value if you focus on technology and WWI. If I was to grade on that, I would say it's a 5 star book for students with a little bit of WWI history under their belt. There are notes of pilot culture, technological advances, important battles, and even a handful of important people. And, it's written in a way that is easy to follow without being overwhelming for those that don't have a mind for names and dates. It's not really in-depth on the causes of WWI or politics of the time, though.

As I did with the other Vansant books, I took the time to check the info against a military historian, Travis Beiersdorfer, and it seems to be very accurate for what it had in it's pages, especially regarding the planes. Beiersdorfer noted that Vansant ignored the "spoilt dandy" side of The Red Baron or the wider impacts of the man's life and legend for being a book centred around him.

[Richard Buro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorry for the long delay in writing new reviews, but things have been hectic here in Central Texas. The review today looks at a superb graphic (artistic) history of Baron Manfred v0n Richthofen, aka The Red Baron and his Flying Circus. This early aviation unit operated during World War I and the various groups that flew early 2oth Century aircraft. As a reader interested in aviation, this work was a gift from my wife and daughter for 2020 Father's Day. They could not have picked a book I would like more. Here's why I think so...

First it is about aviation, a life-long love of mine from learning about it, reading about it since I was able to have a library card and enjoyed seeing anything overhead flying in the skies of Central Texas. As I grew up, I also learned to take care of aircraft working for a Fixed Base Operator at the local public airport in my home town of Temple, Texas. While I took care of helping with maintenance odd jobs, washing and polishing private aircraft and training aircraft as a teenager, to learning how to fly private airplanes as remuneration for my work, and finally soloing, flying cross country trips, and obtaining a lifelong love of flight that has lasted to this day. I love airshows, aircraft team demonstrations, and for a while in my late teens and early twenties as an observer for Search and Rescue flights with the local Civil Air Patrol unit in Temple, TX.

Second it is about history, one-half of my double major at Baylor University in Waco, Texas with the other half, political science. Coupled with my matriculation in the School of Education, I completed my baccalaureate degree cum laud. I was extremely excited when I saw Mr. Vansant's treatment about the major events in each stage of his work. He was careful with his illustrations as well as his textual coverage of the events. His recounting and characters came to life in his treatments of their exploits as well as the courageous response to events; all of which carried so many dangers that courage and undaunted heroism were present in virtually every major event and for many an airman involved in the melee. Mr. Vansant's written and illustrated coverage clearly demonstrated his attention to detail while providing glimpses of the airmanship, courageousness, and incredible feats bringing men and machines beyond what each one feared might be beyond the limits of the aircraft they flew. It is his tribute to their courage, pluck, and undaunted bravery that shows that they gave all they had to continue the battle to its difficult and, in many cases, destructive conclusion.

Providing a reasoned, accurate, and perfect vignettes showed how each airman brought all of his courage, airmanship, and skill to the fight. Even best of the best sometimes faltered and many succumbed to the rigors and dangers of aerial combat. Mr. Vansant's coverage of their exploits was somewhat abbreviated at times, but in all cases he brought clarity yo the overall outcomes of each event. For several aircrews of both sides of the fight the outcomes were less than perfect. Some pilots died, never returning to their bases and companions. Others came back with wounds and injuries, which took their dangerous flight, aerial combat participation and careers in flight operations, to an unexpected ends. Those lucky enough to survive the ordeals spent long periods of convalescence and recuperation behind the main regions of the fighting. If they were well enough and quite fortunate, they spent time traveling back to their homeland and their families. Even the Red Baron von Richthofen found his war injuries so serious that he died in ending stages of the war prior to the Armistice of World War I, the war to end all war. At least that was what the survivors felt as the First World War, came to its conclusion in 1918.

Mr. Vansant's writing style, illustrations of excellence and authentic textual passages made the illustrations come to life providing the reader with a clear representation of some of the reasons why The First World War was deemed to be "the war to end all wars." Prescience was one of the things missing in the story, as less than a half century in the future, the same protagonists and antagonists would face off in the Second World War. Fortunately for the readers interested in that conflict will find that Mr. Vansant has provided several illustrated histories covering major events in the second global conflict of the 19th Century.

Reflecting on this work, I endorse Mr. Vansant's illustrated histories for any reader interested in illustrated stories with realism, heroism, and the tragedy of the conflicts that occurred in 19th Century Europe and Asia. For concise, measured, and accurate illustrated history of major events, Mr. Vansant's illustrated historical books cover several types of warfare that transited the decades from homes to battlefields all over our Earth. Mr. Vansant's work is elegant, accurate, and worth your while, especially if you want to take the plunge into the depths of illustrated history. I think you will probably enjoy it as much as I did.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, now, that was ... unusual.

Unusual in that I don't think I've ever come across history told in such a manner before.

And, I have to say: I think it worked.

This tells the life story of Manfred von Richtohofen, otherwise (and perhaps more famously) known as The Red Baron - a German ace during the infancy of flight, and of warfare in the air (during The Great War, or World War One as it would later become known).

While it does, perhaps, gloss over the more horrific aspects of the war in the air (no parachutes,with the planes being death-traps, and with Richtohofens policy of aiming for the pilot rather than the plane) I have to say that I did learn more from this than I was already aware of - and no, unlike some of my American counterparts, my knowledge of him did NOT come from the Peanuts (right? isn't that the one with Snoopy?) cartoon!

[Lo · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a fascinating story told in such a disappointing way. The illustrations are fantastic, with flowing narratives, beautiful color pallets, and perfect action sequences, all of which are overshadowed by the atrocious writing.

While military history has a distinct style, as do non-fiction graphic novels, this was neither. Painful short sentences are either garbled with unnecessary jargon, or just repeat odd facts over and over again.

Let's just cut the writing and stick to narrative illustrations, eh?

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview in graphics. I knew nothing about this bit of history and got what I wanted from the book, some working knowledge.

[s.j.hannaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Big Red One

Excellent read, ive always been interested in the First World War in the air & I know a lot about it but there were things in here I didn’t know so all in all it’s a ten out of ten ...

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was skeptical at first about learning history in a graphic novel format but was pleasantly surprised by the time I finished. Vansant is a good storyteller, and there is a bibliography for further reading.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little history of the Red Baron and the air-war in World War I from a mostly German point of view. The airplane art is superb.

[Donnacha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Enjoyable. Drawings are Fantastic. And Hitorically Accurate. Well Written

[mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well told, very historically accurate, and beautifully drawn!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good graphic novel about the Red Baron during WWI.

[Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and interesting read that portrays the early years of aviation in WWI and how quickly innovators worked to improve the designs of planes, as well as how the roles of those in the aircraft evolved as the war progressed. However, while informative, I found that this graphic history just wasn't well-written and could've used some more polishing before it went to print. I'd recommend Above the Trenches as a more concise and polished graphic history that touches on much of the people and stories depicted here.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a series of graphic novels dealing with war created by Wayne Vansant. And considering the popularity of the topic and the popularity of graphic novels its sure to be popular. I'd heard of The Red Baron long before picking up this book but it was interesting to read his story in the graphic format. Student readers will be fascinated by the depictions of early air warfare, the techniques and strategies used as well as the personal prowess of Richthofen. I think the one thing that came through loud and clear was how dangerous it was to be a pilot during the war. Vansant does a nice job of covering different aspects of the air war including the flying, scouting, fighting, guarding, and other activities of the different units, but also how the units operated. Other famous flying aces of the war from the various participating nations are also included in the story. This is a great way to introduce young readers to the importance of and impact of the past.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book for a person not looking for an in depth study of World War One or Manfred Von Richthofen. The author lists the major events in Richthofen's life for the reader to get an understanding of the man and of aviation during the war. I liked the addition to the book of the other aces of WWI for the nations involved. You can also never go wrong with pictures! The illustrations were very good for the type of book it is.

[Damián Hernández Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quizás la traducción no sea del todo buena, ya que utiliza algún lenguaje no idóneo para lo que es el libro, terminologías incorrectas. De resto la historia está muy bien, un relato apasionado del conflicto en el aire entre franceses/ingleses y posteriormente americanos y los alemanes, veerfaderos ases de la aviación que arriesgaban sus vidas para no perderla.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is ANOTHER phenomenally well done graphic history from Wayne Vansant. In 100 pages, he provides a concise history of the air war in the First World War and provides context for it within the larger war.
Highly recommended!

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best historic graphic novel I have read in a very long time, maybe ever!

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of info, but lacking in the emotional aspects.