Customer Reviews

C'etait la guerre des tranchees: 1914-1918 (French Edition)

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This graphic novel - really a collection of short stories - is one of the great anti-war artistic statements of our times. It's scope is very ambitious : nothing less than the human condition, and it succeeds by focusing on the individual, the ordinary guys in the trenches. It is without doubt Tardi's "oper magistrum" : he draws, formats the page and writes with economy and power, to stunning -literally! - effect. I have never seen/read/heard the daily reality of war portrayed with such intense compassion (for the poor [people) who actually fight it) and hate (for those who send them to slaughter). A very hard read, best taken in small doses. Will leave you shell-shocked.

Tardi has produced many antiwar graphic novels and comics, mainly focusing on the collective European trauma of the First World War, and the pitfalls of patriotism spawned several albums (Adieu Brindavoine, C'était la guerre des tranchées, Le trou d'obus, Putain de Guerre...).

His grandfather's involvement in the day-to-day horrors of trench warfare, seems to have had a deep influence to his artistic expression. He also completed a four-volume series on the Paris Commune, Le cri du peuple.