It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi
This book by the French illustrator/master draftsman Jacques Tardi does not follow a traditional narrative structure but operates through the narrative of several short sequence and impressions of the subject. What is the subject? Why the Great War itself. Instead of following a character or group of soldiers Tardi chooses to draw out several of the more troubling fates of individuals on the French side of the war.
Tardi does a great job in rendering muddy trenches, artillery craters and the No Man’s Land moonscape. His art shines in the black and white detail and texture of his images. Tardi has an amazing sense for depth and light and his work is truly a pleasure to behold. I would like to provide some more words about his great style, but I will just attach a sample of his work in this book at the end of the post.
The writing is strong as well. The selections of those various moments is refined, even the shortest of sequences contains emotional depth and range – and always reinforcing the final analysis that war is stupid, wasteful and of no use to no one except arms manufacturers. The book presents the inhumanity of war from the trenches and the lower class foot soldiers who had to bleed and die in the insanity that was the Great War in a variety of situations, from being executed as a deserter to having to open fire on civilians. The constant stupidity of those giving the orders and there total disregard for the lives of the soldiers they are responsible for is a central element of the book and a way that Tardi characterizes war as folly.
