I came across this by pure happenstance online, and it seemed like the kind of thing I should post about:
https://www.armsroom.com/files/m16.pdf
It's a Vietnam War era M16 rifle handbook, illustrated by none other than Will Eisner!
It's pretty cool, at a time when comics would still largely have been viewed as childish entertainment, to find an official government document making use of comics techniques. Just by perusing the handbook, it's easy to see how the sequential nature of comics, as well as Eisner's clean, simple line-work, is perfect for conveying complicated information in a way that's simple, quick, and easy to understand. And the occasional gag makes reading it less of a chore, and makes it more likely that soldiers actually will read it.
The handbook also takes a cue from this even older example, of a German technical manual for a Panzer Tank:
https://archive.org/details/Der-Generalinspekteur-der-Panzertruppen-Die-Tiger-Fibel
...which is peppered with random drawings of naked women. While the Eisner version is not quite so "on the nose", having an attractive lady as the primary instructor is certainly a good way to make the book more appealing to the enlisted man, and to make him more likely to listen.
Great find, thank you for sharing! These are both really informative. While the naked women in the Panzer manual seem kind of out out of place and were used to keep the guys interested, they also incorporated some funny puns to go with them, and the drawings are somewhat related to the text. For example the text next to the first drawing of the lady sitting in the tub says "The danger sits in the tub!" accompanied by useful information which gives another meaning to the warning. Sadly I cannot read the cursive font at all. (Just goes to show how times have changed.) Another text warns about water expanding when it turns into ice, and of course they show a lady showering. A little farfetched, but I'm sure the humor and pretty women kept the guys reading. It is a fairly morbid topic after all. The manual says learning with humor is their motto. Interestingly they seem to be questioning their own morals, because they write that "even moralists and morals are unmoral at times".
ReplyDeleteGreat find, thank you for sharing! These are both really informative. While the naked women in the Panzer manual seem kind of out out of place and were used to keep the guys interested, they also incorporated some funny puns to go with them, and the drawings are somewhat related to the text. For example the text next to the first drawing of the lady sitting in the tub says "The danger sits in the tub!" accompanied by useful information which gives another meaning to the warning. Sadly I cannot read the cursive font at all. (Just goes to show how times have changed.) Another text warns about water expanding when it turns into ice, and of course they show a lady showering. A little farfetched, but I'm sure the humor and pretty women kept the guys reading. It is a fairly morbid topic after all. The manual says learning with humor is their motto. Interestingly they seem to be questioning their own morals, because they write that "even moralists and morals are unmoral at times".
ReplyDelete