In 1984, India and Pakistan went to war over the Siachen Glacier. A 2003 ceasefire halted most of the fighting, but troops from both sides are still facing off and losing more soldiers every year to the climate, altitude and avalanches than to enemy fire.

The extreme environment and the absurd origins of the conflict got my attention. Both countries are still contesting an uninhabited glacier — uninhabited, that is, except for soldiers. Then I discovered Siachen: The Cold War, a 2012 Indian comic book by Rishi Kumar, Mahender Kumar, Dhiranjan Dasgupta and retired Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo.

It’s part of a budding collection of English-language war comicsfrom India that shed light on events that are largely unknown in the West.

It’s a cool subgenre, and tracking down the book wasn’t easy. Eventually, I found a Mumbai-based vendor with a single copy that was willing to ship it to the other side of the planet.

But would I recommend it? That depends.

If you’re interested in Indian military history, mountaineering, or if you’re a journalist — ahem — who likes to write about obscure war comics, then I would. But the limited availability will likely deter most readers.

Above, at top and below — scenes from Siachen: The Cold War. AAN Comics illustrations

Siachen: The Cold War is something of a hybrid. It’s a 48-page work of military history — derived from open sources — which closely follows the war’s actual events. It’s also pulpy and nationalistic, with heroic Indian soldiers and cackling Pakistani villains who wouldn’t be out of place in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

The jingoism didn’t sit well with me, but I won’t count it against it anymore than I would Sgt. Fury. The book knows what it is.

The comic follows the origins of the war in the 1950s to a terrifying Pakistani ambush of an Indian patrol in May 1987. A sequel, Battlefield Siachen, carries the story forward from there … though I haven’t read that one.

Read the Remainder at War is Boring