Two Generals [Hardcover]

Scott Chantler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2010

A beautifully illustrated and poignant graphic memoir that tells the story of World War II from an Everyman's perspective.
 
In March of 1943, Scott Chantler's grandfather, Law Chantler, shipped out across the Atlantic for active service with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, along with his best friend, Jack, a fellow officer. Not long afterward, they would find themselves making a rocky crossing of the English Channel, about to take part in one of the most pivotal and treacherous military operations of World War II: the Allied invasion of Normandy. Two Generals tells the story of what happened there through the eyes of these two young men -- not the celebrated military commanders or politicians we often hear about, but everyday heroes who risked their lives for the Allied cause. Meticulously researched and gorgeously illustrated, Two Generals is a harrowing story of battle and a touching story of friendship -- and a vital and vibrant record of unsung heroism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Our top pick this Remembrance Day, not for its novel mix of format and subject but for its stunning success in bringing home the real foot soldier's experience..."
—Toronto Star
 
"Profoundly moving..."
—Straight.com
 
"Two Generals is a compelling portrait of two Canadian officers during the Second World War, with an extreme attention to detail in the dress, troop movements and battles, and especially their day-to-day lives...an endearing success..."
—National Post


Praise for Northwest Passage:
"A . . . swashbuckler of a comic-book tale." 
— Toronto Star

"[A] thrilling historical adventure." 
— Publishers Weekly

"[A] rich, suspenseful, action-packed story (with some fascinating historical details)."
— Booklist

"Scott Chantler [has a] knack for suspense." 
— Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

SCOTT CHANTLER is an acclaimed graphic novelist and illustrator who has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Joe Shuster and the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian cartooning excellence. He is the author of Northwest Passage, a multi-volume graphic narrative set in 1755 colonial Canada, and the artist of graphic novels including Days Like This, Scandalous, and Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen. He is also a popular commercial illustrator whose clients include McDonald's, Reebok, Macy's, the Toronto Star, the National Post, and Maclean's.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (October 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0771019580
• ISBN-13: 978-0771019586
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Chantler is the acclaimed cartoonist of the graphic novels TWO GENERALS, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, and the THREE THIEVES series. His books have been nominated for the Eisner, Harvey, Russ Manning, Joe Shuster, and Doug Wright Awards, and been recommended by the American Library Association and the Junior Library Guild. He is also a popular commercial illustrator whose clients have included McDonald's, Reebok, Macy's, Rogers, The New York Daily News, The National Post, The Toronto Star, and Maclean's. When he's not doing either of those things, he teaches Writing for Graphic Novels at Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two Thumbs Up for Two Generals, January 22, 2011

By 

Patrick_Adams - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Generals (Hardcover)

My wife bought me a copy of the World War 2 graphic novel "Two Generals" for Christmas, the story of two Canadian officers who take part in the battle for Normandy following the D-Day landings. For half an hour I was oblivious to the screams and shouts of my two kids as I read this book, choking back the tears. I had no family at Normandy and am not prone to emotional outbursts so I can only conclude that this is simply an excellent story, heart-breakingly well told.

My wife was cross with me for leaving her to look after two screaming children, so I just passed the book to her and watched her react in the same way that I had.

The author's impressive research is noticeable on every page. The front cover for example shows St Giles Church, Stokes Poges, with the ivy and bushes as they were in the 1940s not as they are now. It stands up well to a re-read, with subtleties noticed that I missed the first time.

If Herge had written for adults, he would have come up with something like this!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving story, beautifully drawn and artfully told, August 10, 2011

By 

GraphicNovelReporter.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Two Generals (Hardcover)

War stories are complicated and difficult to tell, which makes comics the perfect medium for telling them: The creator can show not only the characters and their actions but also their surroundings, the details of military life, maps of battles and strategy, and the carnage that comes with war, all without breaking the narrative with blocks of description. Scott Chantler uses the medium to its fullest in an unusual sort of war story: His grandfather's experiences in the D-Day invasion as a lieutenant in the Canadian Highland Light Infantry. The story is drawn largely from the diary of Chantler's grandfather, Law Chantler, and the letters of his best friend, Jack Chrysler. In keeping with the source material, the book itself is designed to look like a diary, complete with elastic-loop bookmark.

The book is divided into two parts. The first is mostly taken up with the period before the invasion, when Law Chantler and Jack Chrysler were going through training in England. This part of the book is mostly light-hearted, chronicling the two men's experiences in a new country and the trials they face in their training, but there a few moments that foreshadow what is to come, as when Chantler and Chrysler witness a bus accident in which a woman is killed. As the day draws near, the unit begins training with live ammunition (which means real casualties), and they are issued collapsible bicycles for use in the invasion. Important dignitaries, including the King of England, come to wish them well, and then--after a false start--they board ships and learn that they are indeed going to be part of the invasion of Normandy.

Part Two is the story of the invasion itself. Chantler's unit hits the beach but then stalls and can move no further. The Canadians were up against one of the elite units of the German army, commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel himself, and they were both outnumbered and outgunned. There are periods of waiting--even a few more light-hearted moments, as when Chantler captures a German soldier who is relieving himself in the woods--before the story culminates in a final, bloody assault on the town of Buron, which was key to the capture of Caen. Here the palette shifts from gray-green to red as the characters engage in hand-to-hand combat and press forward even as their comrades and commanders are killed on either side of them. After all that, though, the book ends on a quiet note, with Law Chantler standing quietly among the scattered bodies, his mind in another time and place.

The art and storytelling in this book are nothing short of superb. Scott Chantler has a clear, crisp style that suits this type of story well. He uses muted colors in a thoughtful way--gray-green for most of the story, red to accent a moment of blood or violence and, later, as the dominant color in the battle scenes. This is never overdone, and in fact the art has a coolness to it that makes the sometimes disturbing subject matter easy to take. We are, after all, looking at this story from a distance.

Chantler composes his pages carefully, starting with a nine-panel grid but often breaking it to introduce horizontal and vertical shapes. The small panels mean we are often looking at the story in a series of small details--a face, an object, a gesture--and sometimes objects or shapes mirror those on the opposite page. When he widens the view, as he does for a two-page spread of the ships on D-Day, the effect is truly stunning.

The book winds up with a description of the significance of the battle of Buron and some more personal reflections. This is a war story that never glamorizes war; Chantler not only shows the injuries men receive on the battlefield, he hints at the longer-lasting consequences for those who survive, and there is a profound personal loss at the heart of it. Two Generals is a moving story, beautifully drawn and artfully told, and all the more important because it is true.

Chantler has posted some of his research and the original photos and documents he drew on to create Two Generals at the Two Generals Research Blog.

-- Brigid Alverson

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, November 15, 2011

By 

Piober "Piober" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Generals (Paperback)

I had been waiting for this from Amazon.ca since August, and I finally received this book and it is beautiful. The binding, the story, the colouring of the "Tintin" style illustration, the emotion, it was perfect.

This is the graphic novel I always envisioned making about my Grandad. If I could only draw half as well as Mr. Chantler. What a thing to be able to give to his family - a piece of their legacy.

The hard-cover is astounding, it has the same look and feel as an embossed oxblood leather-bound officer's field notebook, complete with elastic place marker. Just holding this book puts you into the time and place as a physical object even before the story begins to work on your imagination.

The story is fascinating, touching, tragic, and humorous, and often made me think of the short tales my Grandad would relate about the war. That generation did not speak a great deal about the horrors they were made to endure, but would often tell of the funny things that occurred along the way. Chantler captures this perfectly balancing the personal with the historical, providing both an individual and an overarching view of what happened to his grandfather as an officer in the Highland Light Infantry of Canada.

This is only my second graphic-novel, and I was surprised again at the blazing pace I was able to cut through a very richly detailed and well researched story and still take away so much from the experience.

The story is of course enhanced by the illustrations which are beautiful. Each page is exceptionally laid out and the colouring made it perfect. The entire book is monochromatic sepia or khaki like old photographs and uniforms of the time, with the occasional punctuation of deep ruby-red accent frames providing a very dramatic effect. This book is a work of art.

I love how the book ended, and then ended again. Where most would have left off, Chantler stops and then provides a little more which makes all the difference. I'm so glad to have read this now, just following Remembrance Day.