“Latah” is a graphic novel by Thomas Legrain and published by Europe Comics. The story follows a squad of American soldiers in the La Drang Valley during the Vietnam war in 1965. The soldiers mission is to mark areas for bombing, but the squad seems to hold a dark secret.. With everyone on edge, a news reporter suddenly shows up, day seems to be endless…and the squad is being hunted but an unknown creature.

”Latah” has a very cinematic art style remnant of the war movies of the past like Saving Private Ryan and Platoon. Lush, detailed illustrations of the jungle terrain in Vietnam, horrifying imagery of the horrors of war. “Latah” in particular has a very cool structure in terms of the layout of the panels, often layering them on top of parts of the primary comic panel. It really added to the wonderful visuals of this comic, it’s bleak, claustrophobic, and eerie. While the story isn’t anything original, you don’t necessarily have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to storytelling sometimes. Some of the dialogue was a little hacky, and characters felt a little too stereotypical, it overall told a decent story. At only 128 pages this is an easy one to get through in one sitting and the art style alone is worth checking this one out!

A solid 3.5/4 ⭐️

Expected publishing date is April 26th, 2023 by Europe Comics

I feel like this book is a 4.5 for the art (it's striking and some pages are just jaw-droppingly beautiful) and a 3 or 3.5 for the story. I'm not sure we need another book exploring the impact and lasting trauma of the Vietnam War-- maybe we do, maybe we don't. But this tale is an interesting spin on a well-worn message and I quite enjoyed it.

I didn't expect much and I was still somehow let down. The art is entirely souless and the story is so thin it's practically one sided. This is the Vietnam war if Platoon and Apocalypse Now were the only reference points.