From the front lines to the punch lines
Stephen Russell, aka the Salty Skipper, is an Army Airborne infantryman turned comic book creator. On this week’s American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast, Russell talks about his service, what it takes to create a comic book and writing his memoir.
Russell’s book, “Troublemakers: The Greatest Dog and Pony Show in Iraq,” is a memoir detailing his experiences and memories of his deployment in 2006-07 to the front lines in Baqubah, Iraq.
“In my unit, we lost 12 guys,” he says, also noting he was wounded and many of his comrades suffered serious injuries. “That part is traumatic and there is this idea that it’s tough to revisit. I actually found that going back was easy for me because that’s where I went over what went on and here’s the headspace I am in at that time.”
It was “freeing” in a way, he says. “Even though there are crazy, hectic things going on, there’s a beautiful society that you are living in where you wake up, do a job every day, and you are free from the societal bonds that we all have like a rent payment.”
On the creative side, “there is a very different process of going through the storyboarding, outlining,” he says. “If I had to compare it to anything in the military, I would have to compare to an op order.”
An admitted “doodler,” Russell explains that his “Tales of Nihilism” is an umbrella term covering his main series, short stories and comic strips. The first main story: “The Ballad of Phillip Kirschner” takes inspiration from his lived experiences to feature a story about what it would be like for an average person to live in a world of superheroes and what challenges would exist.
His military experience paid off not only in organizing his tasks to create the workflow but in the promotions and business side, too.
“In the military, we learned to compartmentalize very well,” he says. “When I’m in my creative sessions, I’m doing that. And then when it is time to do the business side of the house, I take that hat off, put the other one on, and I am in that mode.”
Also in this episode, co-hosts Stacy Pearsall and Adam Marr discuss:
• The perfect gift for servicemembers during a previous war era.
• The sad realization that no Americans who fought at Iwo Jima attended the recent 79th anniversary commemorations.
• Safety concerns related to VA’s 1 million orthopedic devices that have been implanted.
Check out this week’s episode, which is among more than 230 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.