The Complete I, René Tardi, P.O.W.

The complete three-part saga of French comics master Jacques Tardi’s gripping and humane biographical portrait of his father’s life as a soldier during WWII.

When French tank crewman René Tardi was captured by the Germans on May 22, 1940, his life was forever changed. He is shipped off to a P.O.W. camp, Stalag IIB, where he endures a brutal day-to-day existence for nearly five years. Once the war winds down, he faces a long, grueling journey back to France, buoyed only by the vision of his wife Henriette awaiting him at home. The final act finds René struggling to adapt to civilian life, begrudgingly re-enlisting, and returning to Germany to help rebuild the country that imprisoned him.

In The Complete I, René Tardi, P.O.W., cartoonist Jacques Tardi vividly renders his father’s harrowing story, a story enriched with his own childhood memories. Both an homage to his father and a testament to the silent suffering of a generation of men scarred by war, Tardi’s graphic novel trilogy is a personal and artistic triumph. This box set also features a slew of fascinating contextual features, including reference photographs, excerpts of René’s notebooks, and several illuminating essays.