It was the war of the trenches /

*Starred Review* The third Fantagraphics volume bringing the work of eminent French comics creator Tardi to American readers is the first he wrote as well as drew, and it shows that he's as singular a writer as he is an artist. It's a relentlessly grim, ground-level depiction of WWI as seen through the eyes of French soldiers mired in the trenches. Its nonchronological vignettes portray one atrocity after another, inflicted not just by the Boche but by the troops' own officers, who carry out rash executions for trivial or unintended offenses. While the visuals, which draw upon battlefield photographs, are thoroughly convincing, the soldiers' harrowing experiences, fictionalized by Tardi, register as even more powerfully authentic. The potency of the soldiers' tragic stories is enhanced by the elegance of Tardi's lucid drawing and keen compositions, which are accentuated by the use of three horizontal panels per page throughout. This masterful condemnation of the cruelty and stupidity of war, created over the course of a decade, from 1982 to 1993, is a cri de coeur that stands out even amid Tardi's impressive body of work.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2010 Booklist

Redressing a sad literary situation-the prior unavailability of this full masterpiece in English-Fantagraphics finally brings Tardi's wrenching tales of trench warfare during WWI to American audiences. Tardi, whose French grandfather would often recount his experiences on the front lines, has tackled the subject several times over the decades, and this unremittingly bleak collection of vignettes represents the artistic culmination of his obsession. Portions of this collection were first published in Art Spiegelman's groundbreaking RAW comics anthology in the early 1980s, and Tardi didn't complete the work until nearly a decade later. Yet neither the long gestation period nor the lack of a central narrative prevents it from standing as a singular, cohesive work of art. From the living hell of combat to the ghostlike calm of bombed-out villages, each panel radiates with the fear and hopelessness of hapless conscripts who strive only to retain their limbs and their sanity. Calling the war "a gigantic, anonymous scream of agony," Tardi skewers the concept of nationalism and drives home the banality of death. Dark, densely packed backgrounds and heavy wedges of solid black recall the dramatic shading effects of European expressionism, as do the characters' black, fearful eyes. Nearly a century after the fact, Tardi's outrage and compassion make the First World War sting like a fresh wound. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Tardi is an acclaimed French comics artist, and this masterpiece was only recently published in English. Tardi depicts trench warfare during World War I with all its heartbreak and hardship. Based on stories of the front lines told to him by his grandfather, this series of vignettes brings to light the horrors and triumphs of war with dark, moody, black-and-white drawings. (LJ 5/15/10) (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.