Bang! You're Dead! by Ray Bradbury

We never win, but the battle wages on, like toy soldiers.

Here is another average offering by Ray Bradbury that isn't very memorable. I surely mentioned it in other reviews of his work, but for an author who wrote thousands of short-stories during a prolific career spanning decades, it's almost impossible for anyone, even the super talented Ray Bradbury to consistently pump out great works. 

I initially thought this was going to be a western from the title alone: Bang! You're Dead!, which is one of those familiar exchanges between children when playing some kind of imaginative shoot em' up game with each other (ex: Cowboys vs. Indians, etc). Sure, war is all fun and games when it's make-believe, but the actual brutality and imminent death on the battlefield is no laughing matter. The anti-war sentiment in this story comes across as heavy-handed, which didn't really bother me as much as the weird, surreal aspects. Perhaps this was intentional on the author's part, highlighting the absurdity of war, although it mostly succumbs to it's own silly plot contrivances. 

The story centers around a young soldier named Johnny Choir fighting in an unidentified war (WW1 or WW2? I am not sure) who takes on almost mythological status like Superman, deftly dodging enemy bullets while his comrades are dying all around him. Even his name suggests something out of a comic book. He innocently thinks fighting in this war is a game, which gives him the superpower of fearlessness. Kids eventually have to grow up and when another disgruntled soldier shatters Johnny's child-like imagination with the devastating reality of their circumstances, he loses the invisible armor that was keeping his safe in the war all this time. Unfortunately, for me, the ending comes across as a little sappy and maudlin, detracting from the emotional resonance that was likely intended.