MASH Civil War style?

Perhaps you need to be an American GI or European conscript soldier to appreciate the humor in “The Bluecoats”. Or a worker in a really old-fashioned assembly plant? The plot of this Franco-Belgian (sic) comic is set in the United States during the Civil War. The two main characters are sergeant Chesterfield and corporal Blutch, both of the Union Army. Chesterfield is devoted, fearless and violent. Blutch is lazy, cowardly and does everything to avoid a battle.

In “Navy Blues”, this unlikely couple is forced to join both the cavalry, the infantry and the navy. They participate in the climactic battle between the USS Monitor and the Confederate USS Virginia (called Merrimack in the comic). Almost by mistake, the lazy Blutch saves the day and gets a medal, while Chesterfield is reamed out… While both characters are soldiers, they might as well be interpreted as foreman and lazy worker, respectively.

As I said, maybe fans of “Mash” and other lazy soldiers will like this, but personally I would have court-martialed the corporal STAT! Thank god the Union won the war.