47 Comics About World War II

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Eileen’s major literary love is comedian books, however she’s all the time looking out for her subsequent literary journey it doesn’t matter what kind it takes. She has a Bachelor’s in media research, a Master’s in digital communication, a smattering of printed brief tales, and a critically cute canine. Follow her on Tumblr and Twitter.

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This September marks 84 years since Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland, an act that sparked World War II. Though it lasted for “only” six years, this was a battle so lethal, so explosive, and so earth-shattering that it nonetheless impacts our lives — and our artwork — at present.

Unfortunately, a lot of crucial classes humanity ought to have realized from the struggle appear to be fading. Antisemitic assaults have skyrocketed, nationalism and authoritarianism threaten susceptible populations throughout the globe, and a power-hungry dictator has as soon as once more embroiled Europe in a devastating struggle. So even when, like me, you like to give attention to different points of world historical past, it’s critical to sometimes look again on this seminal interval and acknowledge the parallels between our historical past and our current.

To that finish, I’ve collected right here 47 comics and graphic novels about World War II. Why 47? I used to be aiming for 84 (one for every year for the reason that struggle began), however I conked out at 47. Still, 47 is just not shabby. As you’ll have seen for your self, World War II is extraordinarily well-represented in works of nonfiction and fiction, together with comedian books.

Less well-represented listed here are minority views. Except for the part in regards to the Japanese and Japanese American expertise, you’ll discover virtually no creators of coloration. All genders aside from cis males are likewise underrepresented. It’s essential to keep in mind that this really was a worldwide battle, and other people of all races, sexualities, and genders performed a task in it. Nonfiction like Patriots from the Barrio and Spy Princess, and even fiction like Half-Blood Blues remind us of this reality.

Lastly, given the political and cultural climates that prevailed within the Nineteen Thirties and ’40s, please observe that most of the comics right here include probably disturbing depictions of racism and prejudice. So tread with warning as you take into account which of those World War II graphic novels so as to add to your personal assortment.

Comic Books Published During World War II

Cover of Batman: The War Years 1939-1945

Batman: The War Years edited by Roy Thomas

Batman and Robin had hardly been invented when the struggle started, they usually virtually instantly turned their hatred of criminals in the direction of the Axis powers. From elevating cash by bond drives to punching Nazis within the face, the Dynamic Duo will cease at nothing to assist the Allies obtain victory!

Cartoons of World War II edited by Tony Husband

Newspaper cartoons have lengthy been a solution to mock present occasions and other people in energy. This assortment showcases comics from around the globe that poked good (or not so good) enjoyable on the movers and shakers of the Forties.

Giles’s War: Cartoons 1939-45 Edited by Tim Benson

Carl Giles’s razor-sharp political cartoons helped maintain England knowledgeable and amused all through the struggle. His cartoons poked enjoyable at each the defeats and the victories — together with the last word victory — of World War II.

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Volume One by Various Creators

Captain America, comicdom’s most well-known Nazi fighter, stars on this classic sequence, alongside together with his sidekick Bucky, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and different basic characters. What nasty Nazi may stand as much as a workforce like that?

Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

In his basic autobiography, Nakazawa relates how he survived the bomb that America dropped on his hometown of Hiroshima in August 1945. Only 6 years outdated when the bomb hit, Nakazawa and his mom have been fortunate sufficient to outlive, however the remainder of his household wasn’t. This harrowing, epic-length manga explores the trauma they endured throughout and after the occasion.

But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust Edited by Charlotte Schallié

This assortment introduces you to a few individuals who survived the Holocaust as kids and who continued to be haunted by their experiences lengthy after the struggle was over.

The English GI by Jonathan Sandler and Brian Bicknell

Sandler was an adolescent attending college in New York when struggle broke out, separating him from his English Jewish household. This is the story of how Sandler ended up serving within the American military and of how his circle of relatives fared throughout the struggle.

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

With all of the atrocities that occurred in World War II, it’s too simple to miss the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of Korean girls and women. This graphic novel tells the story of Lee Okseon, one of many many ladies uprooted from her dwelling, brutally mistreated, after which left to take care of the implications alone.

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki

By the summer time of 1945, it was clear to most Japanese troopers that they have been combating for a misplaced trigger — however they have been pushed to maintain combating anyway. Mizuki, who was himself a soldier, writes right here in regards to the desperation and atrocities that characterised the struggle’s last weeks.

A Sailor’s Story by Sam Glanzman

Many comedian ebook creators have been drafted or enlisted within the struggle. Glanzman was one among them. In this memoir, he recounts his time on a Navy destroyer.

Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father: A Daughter’s Memoir by Carol Tyler

“Soldier’s heart” is an outdated time period for post-traumatic stress dysfunction. Tyler’s father, who served in World War II, saved his ache hidden till a long time after the battle. This memoir recounts Charles Tyler and Carol Tyler’s makes an attempt to make sense of his service and his psychological scars.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker

Through the notorious Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt compelled Japanese Americans dwelling on the West Coast — even those that have been residents — to remain in focus camps throughout the struggle, allegedly to stop Japanese spies from undermining American safety. Future Star Trek actor Takei, only a baby on the time, and his household have been amongst these compelled to relocate.

We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin

Miriam and her mom have been dwelling in Hungary throughout many of the struggle. But when the Nazis invaded, they have been compelled to pretend their deaths and go on the run. Since Miriam was only a baby on the time, her reminiscence of their flight is usually light or fragmentary, emphasizing the horror that one thing so horrible may occur to somebody so younger.

When I Grow Up by Ken Krimstein

In 2017, lots of of autobiographies written by Jewish youngsters have been present in a church basement in Lithuania. Krimstein took six of those tales and compiled them in a memorable, heartbreaking assortment that reveals the hopes and goals these younger folks had, unaware of how their world was about to break down.

Comic Books About the Holocaust

The Butcher of Paris by Stephanie Phillips and Dean Kotz

While indirectly in regards to the Holocaust, The Butcher of Paris does inform the true story of a serial killer who took benefit of it: Marcel Petiot, who tricked fleeing Jewish folks into believing he may assist them, solely to slaughter dozens — probably lots of — of determined refugees.

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis, Georgia Ball, and Álvaro Sarraseca

Adapted from the prose novel, this tense graphic novel follows siblings Max and Zena, two Jewish kids dwelling in Poland within the Nineteen Thirties. Antisemitism has lengthy coloured their lives, however when the Nazis invade and separate the kids from their dad and mom, issues get exponentially worse. Max and Zena will come to depend on Jewish resistance fighters — and one another — to outlive the horrors to come back.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, Salva Rubio, and Loreto Aroca

This graphic adaptation of the novel follows Dita, an imprisoned Jewish lady who agrees to guard books for her fellow prisoners, risking her life to maintain hope and information alive.

The Photographer of Mauthausen by Pedro J. Colombo and Salva Rubio

Francisco Boix was a communist who was imprisoned at Mauthausen focus camp. But Boix was additionally a photographer, which prompted one of many camp’s officers to recruit him to {photograph} useless prisoners. Boix risked his life to leak these pictures to the skin world and expose the reality behind locations like Mauthausen.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

This award-winning, somehow-controversial title is the gold customary in the case of graphic novels in regards to the Holocaust. Through interviews together with his cantankerous father, Spiegelman weaves a story of luck, braveness, heartbreak, and multi-generational trauma that may stick with you lengthy after you end studying.

White Bird by R.J. Palacio

Part of the “Wonder” universe of tales, White Bird follows a younger Jewish lady named Sara, who survives the Holocaust due to the French household who hides her and the boy who dangers every little thing to maintain her protected.

Comic Books About the Japanese and Japanese American Experience

In This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kuono

Whether dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki really ended the struggle quicker or “better” continues to be up for debate. (Ronald Takaki’s Hiroshima makes a convincing argument that it didn’t.) In any case, it’s essential to not overlook the human beings whose lives have been upended and destroyed by wartime. This manga follows Suzu, a housewife dwelling in Hiroshima, and her wrestle to maintain her household collectively at the same time as every little thing falls aside.

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki

Unlike Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, which centered largely on the lives of troopers at struggle’s finish, this title tells each the private story of Mizuki, who was compelled into the military and shipped off to Papua New Guinea, and the broader story of how the struggle all however destroyed Japanese society.

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour by Andre Frattino and Kate Kasenow

A Japanese American trapped in Japan after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Iva Toguri was pressed into service as a propaganda mouthpiece for the Japanese authorities. As “Tokyo Rose,” she did her greatest to undermine any potential hurt attributable to her place and even turned a favourite amongst American troopers. None of that helped her when she returned to America and was charged with treason.

We Hereby Refuse by Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura, Ross Ishikawa, and Matt Sasaki

Growing up, I solely ever heard in regards to the Japanese Americans who bravely fought for America. While we should always completely train their story, simply as essential are the tales of those that resisted. The American authorities’s remedy of its Japanese American residents and residents was deplorable (see: Displacement and They Called Us Enemy), and a few brave people fought again by refusing to serve, by declining to signal a condescending loyalty oath, or by going to court docket.

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

The Manhattan Project was one of the vital unimaginable scientific endeavors in American historical past, full with thorny moral debates and larger-than-life characters. Trinity provides you an intimate glimpse at their advanced world.

Comic Books About Fictional World War II Fighters

Cover of Captain America 1940s Newspaper Strip

Captain America: The Forties Newspaper Strip by Karl Kesel and Ben Dimagmaliw

This nostalgia-fueled strip revives the “simpler” days when Captain America and Bucky fought the Axis and their many harmful experiments — together with robots! — facet by facet.

Captain America: Truth by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker

Combining the legend of Captain America with the ugly actuality of the U.S. authorities’s experiments on unwitting Black “subjects,” Truth follows Isaiah Bradley as he’s injected with a brand new model of the Super Soldier Serum and turns into a hero in his personal proper.

DC Comics: Bombshells by Various Creators

DC’s best heroines tackle the Axis on this fashionable reimagining of the Golden Age of Comics. See Wonder Woman, Stargirl, Supergirl, Zatanna, and extra workforce as much as make the world protected as soon as once more!

Bombshells United by Various Creators

In this follow-up to Bombshells, our heroines confront the darkish facet of the American homefront, together with the xenophobia that led to the widespread incarceration of Japanese residents and residents.

The Witches of World War II by Paul Cornell and Valeria Burzo

Hitler’s obsession with the occult is well-documented. In this graphic novel, which is impressed by a real story, British intelligence seeks to take advantage of that reality by recruiting a coven of witches to seize Hitler’s second-in-command, Rudolf Hess. Together, these offbeat, unlikely heroes will threat all of it to assist carry the Third Reich to its knees.

Comic Books About Real-Life World War II Fighters

The Courageous Six Triple Eight by Dr. Artika R. Tyner and Cynthia Paul

You don’t should struggle to be a fighter. The Six Triple Eight was a battalion within the Women’s Army Corps fully made up of Black girls. It was their job to kind by the mail and guarantee that every soldier received his letters from dwelling on time — a key a part of retaining morale up on the entrance traces — all whereas confronting the racism and sexism that attempted to carry them down.

Dreaming Eagles by Garth Ennis and Simon Coleby

The Tuskegee Airmen turned a number of the most celebrated American pilots of the struggle. But first, as Black males, they needed to struggle again in opposition to the racism meted out by the very folks they have been alleged to be serving with.

Navajo Code Talkers: Top Secret Messengers of World War II by Blake Hoena and Marcel P. Massegu

Keeping info out of enemy arms was all the time a high precedence for the Allies. The Americans received a leg up on this regard due to the Navajo code talkers, whose unbreakable code, primarily based on the Navajo language, served navy intelligence very effectively certainly.

Night Witches at War: The Soviet Women Pilots of World War II by Bruce Berglund and Trevor Goring

American girls weren’t allowed to fly fight missions. In the Soviet Union, nonetheless, some younger girls educated to do exactly that. Nicknamed “the Night Witches,” they’d fly their ramshackle planes on lethal evening missions — with unimaginable outcomes.

Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler by Shigeru Mizuki

In addition to writing Showa 1939-1944 and Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, which relate the struggle from the angle of an unwilling Japanese Soldier, Mizuki additionally penned this biography of Adolf Hitler himself.

Comic Books About World War II Battles

Cover of Angels of Bataan and Corregidor

Angels of Bataan and Corregidor by Agnieszka Biskup and Samantha F. Chow

War nurses have been usually positioned in simply as a lot hazard because the troopers they handled. During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, they fought valiantly to avoid wasting as many lives as they might, at the same time as bullets and bombs screamed over their heads.

The Battle of Guadalcanal: Land and Sea Warfare within the South Pacific by Larry Hama and Anthony Williams

The Battle of Guadalcanal was a turning level of the struggle within the Pacific theater, with the Allies successful essential victories in 1943 from which the Japanese navy by no means recovered. This and the D-Day ebook beneath are a part of a sequence known as “Graphic Battles of World War II,” if you would like extra on this vein.

D-Day: The Liberation of Europe Begins by Doug Murray and Anthony Williams

D-Day was the codename for one of many largest (although, it should be stated, not the largest) navy operations in historical past, with the Allies coming ashore in Normandy, France, to free Paris — and all of Europe — from the Nazis’ clutches.

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer, Doug Murray, and Steven Sanders

Adapted from the nonfiction ebook of the identical identify, this ebook tells the story of the lads serving in Taffy 3, a small unit of hardly-armed boats that unexpectedly turned the final line of protection in opposition to a Japanese invasion of the Philippine island of Leyte. Despite dealing with overwhelming odds, the lads of Taffy 3 plunged into the Battle of Samar with willpower and braveness.

Raid of No Return: A World War II Tale of the Doolittle Raid by Nathan Hale

Part of Hale’s sequence of historic nonfiction adventures for youths, Raid of No Return explains the historical past and execution of the Doolittle Raid, through which American bombers risked all of it to bomb Tokyo in early 1942.

Comic Books that Reflect on World War II

Belonging by Nora Krug

Krug grew up in Germany round grandparents who had lived by the Second World War, however they by no means actually shared their experiences along with her. It isn’t till Krug reaches maturity that she asks them immediately about their position within the infamous battle.

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

In this creative YA comedian, a lady named Kiku is mysteriously transported again to the Forties, when her personal grandmother was taken to a Japanese internment camp. To discover her approach again to the current, Kiku will first have to find first-hand what life was like for Japanese Americans within the Forties.

Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Ryan North, and Albert Monteys

Vonnegut’s antiwar basic is now obtainable as a graphic novel, following the alleged adventures of World War II vet Billy Pilgrim as he exposes the futile, ludicrous nature of struggle.

The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth by Ken Krimstein

Before her seminal reporting on the trial of struggle prison Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt was herself a sufferer of Nazi persecution. This award-winning graphic biography tells the story of how she turned one of the vital essential voices in documenting the occasions of the Holocaust and German totalitarianism.

World War Two Volume One: Against the Rising Sun by Jason Quinn and Naresh Kumar

This is the primary ebook in a duology that explores the the explanation why World War II occurred, how the folks with the facility to cease it failed to take action, and why we are able to by no means permit a battle of this magnitude to ever occur once more.

Can’t get sufficient Second World War tales? Check out these 100 must-read WWII books, or this shorter record of 2022 releases!

(*47*)

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Batman: The War Years edited by Roy Thomas

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Captain America: The Forties Newspaper Strip by Karl Kesel and Ben Dimagmaliw

The Courageous Six Triple Eight by Dr. Artika R. Tyner and Cynthia Paul

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47 Comics About World War II

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Comic Books Published During World War II

Batman: The War Years edited by Roy Thomas

Cartoons of World War II edited by Tony Husband

Giles’s War: Cartoons 1939-45 Edited by Tim Benson

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Volume One by Various Creators

Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust Edited by Charlotte Schallié

The English GI by Jonathan Sandler and Brian Bicknell

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki

A Sailor’s Story by Sam Glanzman

Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father: A Daughter’s Memoir by Carol Tyler

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker

We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin

When I Grow Up by Ken Krimstein

Comic Books About the Holocaust

The Butcher of Paris by Stephanie Phillips and Dean Kotz

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis, Georgia Ball, and Álvaro Sarraseca

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, Salva Rubio, and Loreto Aroca

The Photographer of Mauthausen by Pedro J. Colombo and Salva Rubio

Maus by Art Spiegelman

White Bird by R.J. Palacio

Comic Books About the Japanese and Japanese American Experience

In This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kuono

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour by Andre Frattino and Kate Kasenow

We Hereby Refuse by Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura, Ross Ishikawa, and Matt Sasaki

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Comic Books About Fictional World War II Fighters

Captain America: The Forties Newspaper Strip by Karl Kesel and Ben Dimagmaliw

Captain America: Truth by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker

DC Comics: Bombshells by Various Creators

Bombshells United by Various Creators

The Witches of World War II by Paul Cornell and Valeria Burzo

Comic Books About Real-Life World War II Fighters

The Courageous Six Triple Eight by Dr. Artika R. Tyner and Cynthia Paul

Dreaming Eagles by Garth Ennis and Simon Coleby

Navajo Code Talkers: Top Secret Messengers of World War II by Blake Hoena and Marcel P. Massegu

Night Witches at War: The Soviet Women Pilots of World War II by Bruce Berglund and Trevor Goring

Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler by Shigeru Mizuki

Comic Books About World War II Battles

Angels of Bataan and Corregidor by Agnieszka Biskup and Samantha F. Chow

The Battle of Guadalcanal: Land and Sea Warfare within the South Pacific by Larry Hama and Anthony Williams

D-Day: The Liberation of Europe Begins by Doug Murray and Anthony Williams

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer, Doug Murray, and Steven Sanders

Raid of No Return: A World War II Tale of the Doolittle Raid by Nathan Hale

Comic Books that Reflect on World War II

Belonging by Nora Krug

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Ryan North, and Albert Monteys

The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth by Ken Krimstein

World War Two Volume One: Against the Rising Sun by Jason Quinn and Naresh Kumar

Recommended For You

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