- During WWII, the closest most Americans ever came to it was through the
cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army. Here,
for the first time, Fantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin's complete works
from 1940 through the end of the war. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most
never-before-reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an
essential chronicle of America's citizen-soldiers from peace through war to
victory.
- Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. With their heavy brush lines,
detailed battlescapes, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect, Mauldin's
cartoons and captions recreated on paper the fully realized world of the
American combat soldier. Their dark, often insubordinate humor sparked
controversy among army brass and incensed General George S. Patton, Jr.
- This tome is edited by Todd DePastino, Mauldin's official biographer:
Willie & Joe contains an introduction and running commentary by
DePastino, providing context for the drawings, pertinent biographical details of
Mauldin's life, and occasional background on specific cartoons (such as the ones
that made Patton howl).
The definitive collection of the complete WWII cartoons of the greatest cartoonist of the Greatest Generation, now in paperback.
