Bill Mauldin's Army: Bill Mauldin's Greatest World War II Cartoons
by Bill Mauldin

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Book Reviews of Bill Mauldin's Army: Bill Mauldin's Greatest World War II Cartoons

Book Review: Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe fight World War II
Summary: 5 Stars

In his cartoons Mauldin battled injustice and pretense with irony and humor, not only through his drawings but also his captions. Of course, as the cover shot of the soldier about to shoot his broken jeep amply evidences, he did not always need the captions. Other times the caption carries the cartoon, as when Willie and Joe are huddled in the snow and asking, "Remember the warm soft mud last summer?" Another classic shows an exhausted infantryman standing in front of a table where medals were being given out, saying: "Just gimme th' aspirin. I already got a Purple Heart." Many of these cartoons were originally published in "Up Front," Mauldin's 1944 best selling book. I agree, there is much to said for the chronological arrangment of these cartoons, but at least somebody has been them altogether in one book for us to enjoy.

Mauldin's "Army" work deserves to be remembered, not only because of his recent death, but also because of the resurgence of interest in World War II, because of things like "The Greatest Generation" and "Band of Brothers." There is some irony in this, because as Mauldin explained about returning soldiers in "Up Front," if they were lucky their memory "of those sharp, bitter days will fade over the years into a hazy recollection of a period which was filled with homesickness and horror, and dread and monotony, occasionally lifted and lighted by the gentle, humorous, and sometimes downright funny things that always go along with misery." Mauldin added, that he wanted to talk about some of things he would remember from the war, "and then I'd like to forget them myself." Fortunately, because of collections like this, Bill Mauldin's work will not be forgotten.

Summary of Bill Mauldin's Army: Bill Mauldin's Greatest World War II Cartoons

Comic Strips Books

• Books > Subjects > Comics & Graphic Novels
• Humor & Entertainment > Humor
• History > Americas
• Military > World War II