Published over 130 years ago, writer Stephen Crane’s novel The Red Badge of Courage is a Civil War tale that was decades ahead of its time, one that was unafraid to confront the visceral realities of war and adopted realistic prose to bring readers a robust, immersive experience. Much of that can be credited to Courage’s main character Henry Fleming and how Crane uses Fleming to bring the horror of conflict to the fore using such grounded narration.
Next week, Abrams ComicArts is releasing a graphic novel adaptation of The Red Badge of Courage from the creative talents of Steve Cuzor (creator of Black Jack). Cuzor’s vision stays true to Crane’s original work while pulling readers into the fray and making the reading experience one the doesn’t flinch from the starkness of war.
I spoke with Steve Cuzor recently about artistic decisions he made when adapting The Red Badge of Courage, what drew him to the material, the research he did for the project, and why the story of the original novel is timeless.
Having read both the original work and Cuzor’s graphic novel adaptation, Cuzor not only is faithful to the source material and produces a stunning work of art, but he also casts a new lens on how to read the story. Crane’s work, as Cuzor says of the original novel in our interview, is universal, and Cuzor helps highlight that universality.
The Red Badge of Courage cover
FreakSugar : I had to read The Red Badge of Courage in 5th grade and it’s a book that’s stayed with me, 30+ years later. What drew you to the material?
Steve Cuzor : What’s fascinating about this novel is the modernity of its message — the fact that Crane doesn’t judge. He is absolutely not political. He’s not telling the story of a war or even the story of a soldier — he’s telling what a soldier feels. It’s the story of a personal disillusionment. He conveys fear, anxiety, anger, cowardice, courage, and all the contradictions that come with those emotions. Anyone can relate to that. It’s timeless.
FS : The art for this adaptation is gorgeous and dynamic and, at times, haunting. What was process like, setting out to adapt the novel to comic form?
SC: I only used what seemed important to me from the novel. Henry’s anxiety about not living up to the heroic soldier he had imagined himself to be. In the novel, the narrator is Stephen Crane. He refers to the characters in the third person. I felt that technique had aged a bit. So I created these internal dialogues so Henry could talk to himself. In addition to the battle raging outside, Henry is fighting a real inner battle. I kept that as my guiding thread throughout the graphic novel. For me, the key was not to betray Crane’s spirit. The hardest part for me as an illustrator was staging the battle scenes. Crane gives very little information in his book about military tactics or how soldiers move in formation. His writing talent is such that it’s sometimes pure poetry — it stirs emotions in the reader but offers few images. I had to create those images with a sense of coherence, because that’s the whole point of a comic. Sometimes I had to put myself in an officer’s shoes to choreograph the battle. My weapon was the paintbrush.
FS : You’ve clearly poured much of yourself into your work. Do you have a favorite part of adapting the novel? Was there any part that was particularly challenging?
SC : There are two clearly distinct parts in my book, with two very different atmospheres. On one side, a battlefield crushed by light and suffocating with dust and heat; on the other, dark undergrowth, teeming with life and filled with unease. The contrasts create an atmosphere so heavy on the character that it feels like you end up reading his soul in the setting. I really enjoyed the part set in the forest — it was calming. I could focus on the texture of the dead leaves and the shadows cast by the trees. The battlefield part was harder because there was so much material to create — dust, smoke, and in the middle of it all, lots of soldiers. On the battlefield, Henry is never alone; there are always many soldiers around him. I had to think about inking, about the different layers. I had to work on the backgrounds first, then move toward the foreground without ruining the earlier work — in short… a real intellectual and visual workout.
FS : Following up that, what kind of research did you have to do when preparing for this project?
SC : I always start by doing a lot of research before working on the storyboard. I need to feed myself with images — period photos, filmed reports, movies — even if I only use 10% of it. Once I’ve absorbed all that documentation, I know where I’m going, and I just have to build my story from there.
FS : The novel is 130 years old, but it remains a staple of American literature. Why do you think the book is so timeless?
SC : It’s timeless because it speaks to what a human being feels — everyone can relate. Especially when it comes to fear, anxiety, lying, cowardice, or courage. It’s universal; it’s what defines us as human. Crane also wrote this book as if he’d invented handheld cinema — at ground level, right in the thick of it. His technique influenced all war films from The Longest Day to Saving Private Ryan, including Glory. While I do think the novel has aged a bit in terms of narrative style, it has remained incredibly modern in terms of its substance.
The Red Badge of Courage graphic novel adaptation by Steve Cuzor goes on sale next Tuesday, May 14, 2025, from Abrams ComicArts.
From the official press release for the graphic novel adaptation :
Written by Stephen Crane when he was just 24, The Red Badge of Courage is a Civil War story that captured the imaginations of readers worldwide and made its author an overnight literary icon. Now artist Steve Cuzor and Abrams ComicArts are publishing a powerful graphic novel adaptation of the classic and genre-defining war novel. Cuzor’s stark yet detailed artwork in The Red Badge of Courage perfectly captures the realistic prose of the original novel, presenting a lushly illustrated, unflinching depiction of war through the eyes of a young, inexperienced soldier.
A groundbreaking and realistic examination of the psychological effects of war, The Red Badge of Courage draws from firsthand accounts and research and has been continuously in print since its publication in 1894. Crane’s depiction of his main character, Henry Fleming, and his internal monologue, ring so true that many readers mistook Crane for a veteran himself. The realistic prose and visceral descriptions of battle that Crane used marked the first shift away from uncritical patriotism in war literature. It would take until at least the 1920s and the wake of the horror of the First World War for the rest of the genre to catch up. In the years following its publication, The Red Badge of Courage was hailed by Crane scholar Henry Wertheim as “unquestionably the most realistic novel about the American Civil War,” while Ernest Hemingway called the novel an “American classic.”
“By illustrating Crane’s classic story, Cuzor pulls readers into the midst of the action, making Henry Fleming’s experience feel all the more visceral,” said Abrams Comic Arts Publisher Joseph Montagne. “Literary aficionados and students alike will find another layer of this classic story to appreciate in this new adaptation of Crane’s magnum opus.”
The Red Badge of Courage graphic novel adaptation by Steve Cuzor will be available in bookstores on Tuesday, May 13th and in comic shops on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025.