*Starred Review* To the generation that lived through World War II, Mauldin’s iconic infantrymen Willie and Joe personified the beleaguered, resigned dogface who won the war. Mauldin began drawing for his division’s newspaper shortly after joining the army in 1940. Three years later he landed in Sicily, and his work began appearing in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes as well as on the home front. His bristle-faced foot soldiers endured life on the frontlines with heavy-lidded weariness and resigned humor. Mauldin’s ink-laden drawings conveyed the harsh conditions the troops endured, although military censorship prevented him from showing the true horrors of combat. While his cartoons were beloved by the soldiers, he frequently ran afoul of the brass, most famously General Patton, who thought that Mauldin’s goal was to “create disrespect for officers.” His battlefield efforts were recognized stateside when Mauldin became the youngest Pulitzer Prize winner in history, and they launched a career as an editorial cartoonist that continued four decades after the war. These two lovingly designed, khaki-green, slipcased volumes collect all 600-plus Mauldin WWII cartoons. They’re an essential complement to editor DePastino’s Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front (2008)—and to every good WWII collection. --Gordon Flagg
“Mauldin’s characters were bluntly honest: War was dirty, absurd, bitter hardwork.” (Todd Leopold -
CNN )
“These gritty, existential cartoons—everything Mauldin published during the war that still exists is compiled here—are the real deal and then some.” (Laurel Maury -
NPR )
“Mauldin's drawings of his muddy, exhausted, whisker-stubbled infantrymen Willie and Joe were the voice of truth about what it was like on the front lines.” (Bob Greene -
CNN.com )
“This collection of all of Mauldin’s World War II work stands out…a worthy platform for a series of brilliant strips drawn with a lively hand.” (Rob Clough -
High-Low )
“
Willie & Joe is an extraordinarily compiled and presented tribute to Bill Mauldin, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist who chronicled life in the U.S. Army from 1940 to 1945. The set is bound in army green canvas and typeset in the font of an old manual typewriter, the kind an army clerk might have used during the Second World War. The collection is a sensory delight, pleasing to touch and beautiful to see. ... For the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, for the man who was once America’s most celebrated enlisted man,
Willie & Joe is a fitting, and wonderful, tribute.” (David Mitchell -
BiblioBuffet )
“This compilation of his cartoons helps bring Mauldin’s talent and his life at the front lines both to historians and a new generation.” (Samuel M. Baker -
ARMY Magazine )
“The cartoonist’s humanistic brush paints a sober picture of war that a newscamera can never achieve. These GIs resonate with real pathos; eachcartoon, however jocular, emanates weariness and resignation.” (James Sturm -
Print Magazine )
“[An] amazing and beautiful collection.” (Rick Kogan -
Chicago Tribune )
“First and foremost, Willie & Joe are funny. …[I]t's an absorbing glimpse into the day to day life of soldiers while it was happening and the end not known. It's easy to identify with: employees in any capacity gripe about their bosses. But the more specific Mauldin is, the more biting and fascinating his work is.” (Michael Giltz -
The Huffington Post )
“Mauldin was arguably the greatest war correspondent of his day.” (Steven Grant -
Comic Book Resources )
“Cartoonist Bill Mauldin was a genius at bringing the experiences of World War II home to the moms and dads, kids, wives or girlfriends of the GIs on the front lines in a very human way. ... To my knowledge, none of our wars since has produced a chronicler anywhere near the greatness of Mauldin.” (Wesley G. Hughes -
San Bernadino County Sun )
“[A] terrific two-volume collection of the legendary Bill Mauldin's 'GI Joe' cartoons from 'the last good war'... Fantagraphics gives us a comprehensive collection of the cartoons that fellow enlisted man Mauldin created during the war, both for civilians and fellow soldiers alike... [T]his compendium is both a great time capsule, and a fitting tribute to an American original.” (Mark London Williams -
The SF Site: Nexus Graphica )
“Many World War II veterans would surely appreciate seeing these strips again, and anyone who studies that conflict ought to be fascinated by Mauldin's unglamorous take on the drudgery, fear and absurdity of Army life.” (David Allen -
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin )
“There’s a sad wisdom on virtually every page here.” (Jeff Salamon -
The Austin American-Statesman )
“Bill Mauldin was my first artist hero, and
Willie & Joe: The WWII Years reminds me why.” (Steven Heller -
The New York Times Book Review )
