World War I, that awful, gaping wound in the history of Europe, has long been an obsession of Jacques Tardi's. (His very first--rejected--comics story dealt with the subject, as does his most recent work, the two-volume Putain de Guerre.) But It Was the War of the Trenches is Tardi's defining, masterful statement on the subject, a graphic novel that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.
Tardi is not interested in the national politics, the strategies, or the battles. Like Remarque, he focuses on the day to day of the grunts in the trenches, and, with icy, controlled fury and disgust, with sardonic yet deeply sympathetic narration, he brings that existence alive as no one has before or since. Yet he also delves deeply into the underlying causes of the war, the madness, the cynical political exploitation of patriotism. And in a final, heartbreaking coda, Tardi grimly itemizes the ghastly human cost of the war, and lays out the future 20th century conflicts, all of which seem to spring from this global burst of insanity.
Trenches features some of Tardi's most stunning artwork. Rendered in an inhabitually lush illustrative style, inspired both by abundant photographic documentation and classic American war comics, augmented by a sophisticated, gorgeous use of Craftint tones, trenches is somehow simultaneously atypical and a perfect encapsulation of Tardi's mature style. It is the indisputable centerpiece of Tardi's oeuvre.
It Was the War of the Trenches has been an object of fascination for North American publishers: RAW published a chapter in the early 1980s, and Drawn and Quarterly magazine serialized a few more in the 1990s. But only a small fraction of Trenches has ever been made available to the English speaking public (in now out of print publications); the Fantagraphics edition, the third in an ongoing collection of the works of this great master, finally remedies this situation.
Industry Reviews
In terms of its writing and its art, Trenches is a masterful work. ... But the book's true victory is a moral one. For it shows us, clearly and terribly, the thorough destruction of values inherent in modern war.--Kristian Williams "The Comics Journal"
Ink-soaked and gory, Tardi's detailed renderings drive home the grotesquery of the war and the ordeal of the young men fighting in it. ...It Was the War of the Trenches creates an aura of loss, regret and terror.--Michael C. Lorah "Newsarama"
Many books have been written about World War I, but few can truly worm their way into your head like Jacques Tardi's It Was the War of the Trenches. ... The tales here are devastating and heartbreaking, and often disturbing, but readers will nonetheless have a hard time putting it down.--Holly Scudero "Sacramento Book Review"
Starred Review. 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 that 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.-- "Booklist"
This extraordinary collection of World War I tales offers perhaps the finest work from the lauded Tardi. ... Visceral, powerful, and effective, the flawless It Was The War of the Trenches blazes a new standard for the war comic.--Rick Klaw "The SF Site: Nexus Graphica"
