Willie & Joe: The WWII Years

The reprinted comics look great, and there's some very interesting commentary on the comics and Mauldin's life etc. as well as some of the early anti-Native racism his comics featured (which changed as he grew, matured, and met more people who weren't like him including Native soldiers he served alongside). However, I'm deducting a star because some cartoons are missing. I don't know if it's a rights issue or what, but they're some of my faves. I'm going to have to track down his memoirs so I have access to them.

Bill Mauldin was one America's great commentators. Using both prose and drawings as media of expression, Mauldin presents in this work the views, trials, pleasures, and--and most importantly--the point of view of the footsoldier, the dogfaces (later the grunts in Vietnam). Like many common infantrymen, Mauldin does share in the "glory" of generals and politicians. You may not always agree with his works or ideas, but the cartoons are funny as well as poignant. This book contains all his World War II cartoons published in both military and civilian press although many drawings can be found in books like UP FRONT. It's a large book, making the cartoons large and easy to see. Quality is reproductions are mixed, for many original Mauldin drawings are lost and the book prints copies of newspaper prints and some from books. The paper of the book is sturdy but is not the best for artistic reproductions. Despite all this, this definitive work, with a short but good introduction, is a great buy. Having all the drawings in a single book is a great deal.

I missed WWII, but I was in the Army during Viet Nam. Bill Mauldin's work could have been drawn aboutthe people that I served with. It has such a timeless quality. We spent nights washing fatigues because anofficer was offended that we got dirty crawling through mud day after day after day. I still share Mauldin's opinion of officers.The introduction to the drawings is priceless history. The US Army described without propaganda.Don't misunderstand. The enlisted men of the US Army were never treated with more respect. Ernie Pyle was a fan andso am I. We share our high regard of Bill Mauldin's work with literally thousands of rank and file grunts.I am amused that Willie was supposed to be Bill Mauldin but Mauldin drove around with the press. He had his ownjeep and permission to go anywhere. Still he ran into George S. Patton. Sparks flew until Eisenhower personallytold Patton to back off.I have not idea if any of this applies to the people who served recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each generation has its ownstory to tell. Maybe someday we will find out if they had their own version of Mauldin.

I was surprised when this book arrived! I expected a selection of Bill Mauldin's cartoons, but in its almost 700 pages, the editor tried to print each and every known work of his. The book begins with a good concise bio of Mauldin's printed like a WWII official document, very helpful to understand his work. His cartoons form a unique view of the daily life of the lowly grunt, the sons of families impoverished due to the Depression, who often joined the service because they thought it would be less rough than the jobs they could find as civilians, only to find themselves thrown in the maelstrom of the biggest war ever. I have the honor of having made friends with some members of that Greatest Generation, and their stories sound very familiar to the situations shown in Mauldin's cartoons.

This must be the absolute entire cartoon collection of the Willie & Joe series. So on target the meaning and essence of cartoon messages!

A true treasure. Malden’s early work very interesting not PC by today’s standard; which I am thankful for.

It is extremely difficult to turn the pages one has swipe 2-3 times. Much worse is the fact that it is impossible to expand the pages. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to read any text, even the balloons in the cartoons. A teal disappointment!

My dad was a paratrooper in WWII as was an uncle. Another was a Seabee. I read the Stars and Stripes while stationed overseas. Bill Mauldin was a genius. I still have a vivid visual of the grizzled ole dogface about to shoot his dead Jeep. He had a career after the war as a political cartoonist and did a memorable take on the desegregation on the little Rock schools. I had many of these in an old paperback but it was disintegrating.

Up to their necks in S**t and bullets the humour & pathos of two American Soldiers out on the front in WWII, well produced book the printing is fine & of good quality, recommend.

A very good book about the wwii years, with history about bill mauldin, same explanations about the book and some complaints about the morale of this book, read by the front soldiers, a complaint by Patton himself in letter.

Esta edición recoge la obra completa de Bill Mauldin en lo referente a sus dibujos sobre el ejército y la guerra. No sé si es su "Obra completa", pero sí desde luego, aquello por lo que este genial autor es conocido. Los dibujos reflejan su propia experiencia como combatiente.El tamaño del libro (24x20cm) es estupendo para apreciar el arte de Mauldin -todo en blanco y negro-, y sólo cabe reprochar, que no se corresponda con una encuadernación en tapa dura acorde a la calidad del contenido.Las más de 600 páginas de dibujos -casi todos de viñeta única a página completa- están acompañados de un prólogo biográfico y un apéndice con numerosos originales, con las notas y correcciones del propio autor, que nos ayudan a entender y seguir su proceso creativo. Además muchos de los dibujos incluyen notas a pie de página con comentarios muy interesantes sobre detalles artísticos del dibujo, así como explicaciones del contexto bélico, o sobre el vocabulario utilizado. Muy recomendable, no sé si colocarlo en la biblioteca junto a los comics, o a los libros de historia de la II Guerra Mundial.

Casi 700 páginas con dibujos a página completa, además de una breve biografía y bocetos. No sólo los chistes son buenos, el dibujo es excelente, demostrando que Bill Mauldin fue un maestro en su género.

Pictures are a bit small. Didn't realise the collection was soft cover. My bad, and the images are still great, but a hair shy of perfect. Shipped fast, no delivery problems.