Signature Wound: Rocking Tbi Volume 32

Trudeau picks a subject that is NOT funny, only in his hands it is very funny. Traumatic Brain Injury, the bane of the mideast wars, is way too serious a subject to leave to the military to explain and we all need to know about it. Who better to inform us than the man who for 40 years informed us about what is really going on in the US, Washington, D. C., and the world.

I recommend this book even for people who don't usually read comics. It's a great story about the problems of wounded vets, told with realism and humor and not a drop of maudlin sentimentality.

SIGNATURE WOUND: ROCKING TBI is the last part of a trilogy of "Doonesbury" books focusing on the impact of combat on American soldiers in Iraq. The first two books in the series focus on B.D. a long-standing featured "Doonesbury" character who lost his leg to a rocket-propelled grenade. In SIGNATURE WOUND, the storyline focuses on a new character to the "Doonesbury" universe, Leo "Toggle" Deluca, a member of B.D.'s company. Toggle gets blown up by a vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) after being distracted while listening to heavy metal music. His life is saved but he loses an eye, is left with aphasia, and finds himself trying to recover from the traumatic brain injury (TBI) that the explosion gives him. B.D. flies to Washington until Toggle recovers. Later, Toggle returns home and begins a serious Facebook relationship with a MIT student named Alex Doonsebury that turns into the real thing. I read "Doonesbury" in the newspaper, but I don't enjoy many of the storylines in the strip. The SIGNATURE WOUND storyline is one that I actually did really enjoy. "Toggle" is a great character and I'm glad that Trudeau has decided to make Toggle a featured character instead of a secondary one. SIGNATURE WOUND provides a semi-realistic look at what a battle-worn soldier with TBI goes through, done in a moving, non-sentimental way that isn't preachy. I kind of wish more of "Doonesbury" strips were like that. It should be noted that the author proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Fisher House, a program that helps provides military families a place to stay nearby the places where their injured military family member is recovering.