Freshmen at BU were unusually eager to sign up for ROTC this fall. When questioned, many of them blurted out: "I don't want to be like Jim!"

They had good reason. They had all read what happened to Jim, who did not join ROTC, in the comic book sent to each freshman's home during the summer. Their response proved what the booklet has assumed: that the best appeal to college men and potential officers was in the form of a story, with pictures.

In the first picture, Ted Wright stands alone on the campus of State U. Dull-witted, slow of speech, shunned by his classmates, he turns to his freshman adviser, Bob, who tells him about ROTC. Bob, unlike his friend Jim, had joined the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps as a freshman in college. The pictures follows him as he admires his new soldier-type uniform in the mirror; in no time it has snared a blonde ("I was just thinking," she says, "--you remind me of the song, 'There is something about a soldier.'")

After four years of ROTC, having "learned what it takes to be a success in the world," Bob walks into a good job and marries the blonde--in the nick of time, for war has broken out in Europe. "Like most ORC men, I spent more of my free time at the armory. We all knew how important it was to keep up with the latest equipment . . . (next panel) And a few months later I got my wish--that husky son was born--and on schedule!"

After Pearl Harbor, Bob decides to sign up for active service. Jim, as usual, is a sluggard. He, too, seems to have acquired a wife, despite his civvies. "You're in a tough spot, all right," Bob says, leering. "But it's different with me. I go in as an officer and I'll make enough money to support my wife and baby!" Later Jim is drafted as a private, while Bob is commanding men. "It wasn't any time at all before I got my captain's bars!"

"And it wasn't any time before I landed on an island in the Solomons! This was my chance to prove the importance of ROTC training!" Jim, who missed his chance years ago, is presumably sitting out the war in the States.

Ted Wright doesn't want to be like Jim. He draws his uniform, and by the end of the comic book he has acquired self-confidence, leadership, and a brunette with a Buick convertible, who hangs on his sleeve and says, "Ted, you're getting so many decorations! What are you, a general or something?" (Answer: "Not yet. The loop is for Pershing rifles and the medal is for sharp-shooters.") Quick-tongued now, he shines at the annual military ball: "Ted, that's the dreamiest band I've ever danced to." "And you're the dreamiest girl I ever danced with." He has fun at summer camp, talking with the fellows over chow ("I feel plenty rugged after my first morning!") shooting machine guns ("Boy, this training sure is like the real thing!"), meeting bathing girls at the pool ("Kinda makes me wish I was a local boy!"). At the end of the four-year whirl, he is chosen to escort the campus queen at Homecoming.

Thanks to his ROTC training in self-confidence and leadership ("In establishing a road block, make certain to put your machine guns in positions where they will have the widest angle of fire!") Ted Wright has been readied for success in either military or civilian life. For BU freshmen, Ted has only this to say: "Gosh, most outsiders don't have any idea what this training has to offer!"