I read Tardi's classic graphic novel, It Was a War of the Trenches, a few years ago and loved it as much as one can love a book of that level of horror. In this book, Tardi returns to World War One, drawing on the reminiscences of his grandfather; Tardi recounts the French experience.
The first-person narrative really shows the horror and tragedy of war. A commitment to telling truths is furthered by the presence of black and Asian colonial troops, who are still largely written out of the mainstream depictions of this conflict.
This deeply intense and personal biography is visually told so well, Bechdel illustrates emotions through posture, timing, and expression brilliantly. The writer moves characters from one decade to another seamlessly without the reader ever being confused as to who's who.
One thing that is worth mentioning is the use of repetition; the repeated crossing of the road of her father, in his decline, increases its power with each re-framing from a different angle. This is a really useful storytelling tool that I have tried to employ with elements such as the portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte in my graphic novel. Hopefully, it will work as well as in this book!
DISCOVER the BESTSELLING GRAPHIC MEMOIR behind the Olivier Award nominated musical.
'A sapphic graphic treat' The Times
A moving and darkly humorous family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Alison Bechdel's gothic drawings. If you liked Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis you'll love this.
Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high-school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and the family babysitter. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescence, the denouement is…
This epic comic book of over 1200 pages in two volumes was an absolute joy to read. It has the fast pace of a Tintin adventure, but with more in depth characters and story.
It interweaves four main characters, each called Adolf. A German Japanese boy who grows up to join the Hitler youth, a Jewish German boy living in Japan as a refugee, Hitler himself, and a reporter who is in possession of documents proving that Adolph Hitler has Jewish blood.
It is really interesting to see this Second World War period from a Japanese perspective and the fact that Japan was taking in Jewish refugees (it took more than the UK) - a fascinating part of history that is rarely discussed in the West.
It is 1936 in Berlin, Nazi Germany. A Japanese reporter named Sohei Tohge is covering the Berlin Olympic Games for the Japanese press. As he sits in the Japanese press box watching the many track and field events of the day, he receives a call from his younger brother Isao, who has been studying in Germany as an international student. The two make plans to meet as Isao mentions he has something of importance to share with his sibling. While Sohei initially thinks his little brother may have found a young frau, Isao's tone is clearly that of one who…
The end of slavery started in what was then San Domingo. In 1791, the enslaved people of the most prized French sugar plantation colony revolted against their masters. For over twelve years, against the backdrop of the French Revolution, they fought an epic black liberation struggle for control of the island. Theirs was the first and only successful slave revolution. It was the creation of Haiti as a nation, the first independent black republic outside of Africa, and an international inspiration to the persecuted and enslaved.
This is the impassioned and beautifully drawn story of the Haitian Revolution and its incredible leader, Toussaint Louverture.
