Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag

I’m no connoisseur of graphic novels. I’ll admit that upfront. In fact, before reading Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag by Michael Anthony (with art by Chai Simone), I’m fairly certain I’d never read one at all. Now, I am a convert. A veteran of the Iraq War, Michael Anthony has written two other memoirs (Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq and Civilized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir) chronicling his time at war and the toll it took on his life after returning home. His new memoir is a journey in a new direction and a completely new vehicle. In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, Anthony takes the reader on a journey through a personal transformation as he faces a crisis all men fear: the woman that he loves has gone from vegetarian to full-on animal rights activist.

Throughout Dirtdag, Michael ties his story back to his military service and how the trauma of war has affected his post-war life. In a way, his journey from soldier to civilian and his journey from meat-eater to vegetarian are two very similar stories, in that both required mental rewiring and both required a dismantling of self-constructed barriers. In both journeys, Michael is forced to overcome his biggest obstacle, himself. I don’t know about you, but this is a concept I can relate to 100 percent.  

As I said before, I’m no expert in graphic novels and I’m definitely no expert in art, but I know what I like and I liked the illustrations in Dirtbag. Chai Simone does amazing work and her art tells just as much of the story as the dialogue does. In some instances, I found myself surveying the art on the pages before reading any of the dialogue, trying to ascertain solely from the artwork what was about to happen. The pages are vibrant, the characters expressive, and the layout seems to explode off the page.

For me, Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag was more than just a book about vegetarianism/veganism. It’s a book about the way we as humans process change. All too often, when we find that someone holds different beliefs from us, our reaction is to immediately dismiss that person as wrong or begin an assessment of how to “win that person back” to the right way of thinking. Too often we fail to search for the reason behind the reasoning and in that way we fail one another. Perhaps I’m reading too far into it, but Mr. Anthony’s book feels, to me, as much like a call to be a better and more tolerant person, as it is a call to more conscientious food choices. Either way, Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag is a fun, fast read and may even leave you questioning the ethics of some of your own dietary choices. Who knows, maybe you’ll change your eating habits, gain insight on a friend or family member, or just broaden your point of view. There’s only one way to find out. 

Brett Allen is a humor writer and author of the Afghanistan war novel, Kilroy Was Here. He is also a contributing writer for Task and Purpose as a member of their Gear Review team. Follow him on Twitter at @hogwashwriting.