One of our most lauded books of 2008 is now available again, at a new, affordable sticker price!
"The real war," said Walt Whitman, "will never get in the books." During World War II, the closest most Americans ever came to the "real war" was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army.
Here, for the first time, Fantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin's complete works from 1940 through the end of the war. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America's citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory.
Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it.
After wading ashore with his division on the first of its four beach invasions in July 1943, Mauldin and his men changed — and Mauldin's cartoons changed accordingly. Months of miserable weather, bad food, and tedium interrupted by the terror of intense bombing and artillery fire took its toll. By the year's end, virtually every man in Mauldin's original rifle company was killed, wounded, or captured.
The wrinkles in Willie and Joe's uniforms deepened, the bristle on their faces grew, and the eyes — "too old for those young bodies," as Mauldin put it — betrayed a weariness that would remain the entire war. With their heavy brush lines, detailed battlescapes, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect, Mauldin's cartoons and captions recreated on paper the fully realized world of the American combat soldier. Their dark, often insubordinate humor sparked controversy among army brass and incensed General George S. Patton, Jr.
This is the first of several volumes publishing the best of Bill Mauldin's single panel strips from 1940 to 1991 (when he stopped drawing). His Willie & Joe cartoons are presented in a deluxe, beautifully designed two-volume slipcased edition of over 600 pages. The series is edited by Todd DePastino, whose Mauldin scholarship is on full display in a biography of the artist released in February 2008 from W.W. Norton. Willie & Joe contains an introduction and running commentary by DePastino, providing context for the drawings, pertinent biographical details of Mauldin's life, and occasional background on specific cartoons (such as the ones that made Patton howl).
2009 Eisner Award Nominee: Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips 2009 Eisner Award Nominee: Best Publication Design (Jacob Covey)
"More than anyone else, save only Ernie Pyle, he caught the trials and travails of the GI. For anyone who wants to know what it was like to be an infantryman in World War II, this is the place to start — and finish." – Stephen Ambrose
"I think of Mauldin as one of the great anti-war artists, much like Goya. He took drawing up to a communicative level that I think is extraordinary." – David Levine
"A terrific collection... With a few chiaroscuro strokes and a wry caption, Mauldin cuts to the bone." – Los Angeles Times
"As comprehensive an edition as is possible of Bill Mauldin's wartime cartoons... This two-volume edition is an indispensable trove of both cartooning and military history, and fully as significant as Fantagraphics' Complete Peanuts or the various other comprehensive strip reprint projects that we are so lucky to have now... historically important and beautifully done." – Charles W. Hatfield, Thought Balloonists
"A superlative set... The high production values are apparent throughout... This is a rare set: a publishing landmark that deserves the accolades and the remembrance it is likely to receive. It's requisite reading for anyone seriously interested in cartooning history, U.S. history, or world history. 4 stars [highest rating]" – Comics Buyer's Guide
"Glorious... this loving collection... is essential reading for a nation in search of its Greatest Generation. Far from creating demigods among men, Mauldin argues, combat exposes humanity's most stubborn flaws... [Grade] A" – The Onion A.V. Club
"Willie & Joe: The WWII Years might be the most important comic reprint project of the year." – Panels and Pixels
"Stunningly produced... The cartoonist's humanistic brush paints a sober picture of war that a news camera can never achieve." – Print
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