1001 COMICS MINI-SITE

Even with 960 pages, I couldn't squeeze all the material I had into my book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die. This mini-site is designed to supplement that book with updates, additional information and links... but obviously you'll still need a copy of the book!

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It Was The War Of The Trenches

Original publisher: Casterman (Belgium)
First published: 1982
Reviewed by: Nicolas Finet
Genre: Historical, War

‘The war to end all wars’ has become a magisterial comic book to end all comic books. I seldom give blurbs, but this book is an essential classic. Among all of Jacques Tardi’s towering achievements as a comics artist, nothing looms larger than this devastating crater of a work. It’s a compulsively readable wail of Existential despair, a kaleidoscope of war’s dehumanizing brutality and of Everyman’s suffering, as well as a deadpan masterpiece of the darkest black humor. The richly composed and obsessively researched drawings - perfectly poised between cartoon and illustration - march to the relentless beats of Tardi’s three horizontal panels per page to dig a hole deep inside your brain. This is one Hell of a book. - Art Spiegelman

Tardi’s depiction of the First World War is so impassioned and visceral that it can be compared to the work of the artists who actually served in the trenches. - Joe Sacco

Fantagraphics Books, USA, 2010

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