{"id":28877,"date":"2023-11-11T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28877"},"modified":"2023-11-10T18:58:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T18:58:21","slug":"the-great-anti-war-cartoons-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/11\/11\/the-great-anti-war-cartoons-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Anti War Cartoons"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy many & various, edited by Craig Yoe<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-150-3 (TPB)<\/p>\n

After watching far too much news again, I dug this book off my shelves again. It seemed somehow appropriate. Again.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear a lot about the pen being mightier than the sword regarding The Great Anti-War Cartoons<\/strong>, but sadly it\u2019s just not true. Nothing seems able to deter determined governments, or stop outraged religions and\/or rich, greedy – and apparently duly elected – raving mad ruthless bastards from sending the young and idealistic to their mass-produced deaths, especially those innocents still afflicted with the slightest modicum of patriotism or sense of adventure. It\u2019s even worse when the sods at the top turn away or claim it\u2019s self-defence whilst killing bystanders but not the ACTUAL other equally mad bastards really responsible.<\/p>\n

Our own currently escalating and deteriorating global situation (but isn\u2019t it always?) proves mankind is always far too ready to take up arms, and far too reluctant to give peace a chance, especially when a well-oiled publicity machine and vested media interests gang up on the men and women in the street going \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d and \u201cstop killing us\u2026!\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all susceptible to the power of a marching beat played on fife and drum, but at least here amongst these 220+ cartoons and graphic statements, we see that rationalism or conscientious objectivity – or pacifism or even simple self-interested isolationism – are as versed in the art of pictorial seduction as the power and passion of jingoism and war-fever.<\/p>\n

All art – and most especially cartooning – has the primitive power to bore deep into the soul, just as James Montgomery Flagg\u2019s iconic Uncle Sam poster \u201cYour Country Needs You\u201d and our own Lord Kitchener version by Alfred Leete in 1914 so effectively did for millions of young men during the Great War.<\/p>\n

How satisfying then to see Flagg\u2019s is the very first anti-war cartoon in this incredible compilation of images focusing on the impassioned pleas of visual communicators trying to avoid body-counts or at least reduce bloodshed. The Great Anti-War Cartoons<\/strong> gathers a host of incredibly moving, thought-provoking, terrifying, but – I\u2019m gutted to say – ultimately ineffective warnings, scoldings and pleas which may have moved millions of people, but never stopped or even gave pause to one single conflict\u2026<\/p>\n

Editor Craig Yeo divides these potently unforgettable images into a broad variety of categories and I should make it clear that not all the reasons for their creation are necessarily pacifistic: some of the most evocative renderings here are from creators who didn\u2019t think War was Bad per se, but rather felt that a specific clash in question was none of their homeland\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

However with such chapters as Planet War<\/em>, Man\u2019s Inhumanity to Man<\/em>, The Gods of War<\/em>, Profiteers<\/em>, Recruitment and Conscription<\/em>, The Brass<\/em>, The Grunts<\/em>, Weapons of War<\/em>, The Battle Rages On,<\/em> The Long March<\/em>, Famine<\/em>, The Anthems of War<\/em>, The Horrors of War<\/em>, The Suffering<\/em>, The Families and Children of War<\/em>, The Aftermath<\/em>, Victory Celebration<\/em>, Medals<\/em>, Disarmament<\/em>, Resistance<\/em> and Peace<\/em>, we witness immensely talented people of varying and even conflicting beliefs responding on their own unique terms to organised slaughter. For every tut-tut of the Stay-at-Homers, there are a dozen from genuinely desperate and appalled artists who just wanted the horror to end.<\/p>\n

With incisive examinations of shared symbology and recurring themes, these monochrome penmen utilised their brains and talents in urgent strivings to win their point (there is also a fascinating section highlighting the impact and energy of the Colors of War<\/em>), but the most intriguing aspect of this superb collection is the sheer renown and worth of the contributors.<\/p>\n

Among the 119 artists include (120 if you count Syd Hoff and his nom-de-plume \u201cRedfield\u201d as two separate artists) are Sir John Tenniel, Caran d\u2019Ache, Bruce Bairnsfather, Herbert Block, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Ron Cobb, \u201cDing\u201d Darling, Billy DeBeck, Jerry Robinson, Albrecht D\u00fcrer, Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb, Rube Goldberg, Honore Daumier, Goya, George Grosz, Bill Mauldin, Gerald Scarfe, Ralph Steadman, Thomas Nast and most especially the incredibly driven Winsor McCay.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve scandalously assumed that many of the older European draughtsmen won\u2019t be that well known, despite their works being some of the most harrowing, and their efforts – although perhaps wasted on people willing to listen to reason anyway – are cruel and beautiful enough to make old cynics like me believe that maybe this time, THIS TIME, somebody in power will actually do something to stop the madness.<\/p>\n

A harsh, evocative and painfully lovely book: seek it out in the hope that perhaps one day Peace will be the Final Solution.<\/p>\n

The time has never been more right for cynics like me to be proved wrong.<\/p>\n

The Great Anti-War Cartoons<\/strong> and the digitally remastered public domain material are \u00a9 2009 Gussoni-Yoe Studio, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By many & various, edited by Craig Yoe (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-60699-150-3 (TPB) After watching far too much news again, I dug this book off my shelves again. It seemed somehow appropriate. Again. You\u2019ll hear a lot about the pen being mightier than the sword regarding The Great Anti-War Cartoons, but sadly it\u2019s just not … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Great Anti War Cartoons”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[125,170,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humour","category-non-fiction","category-satirepolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7vL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28879,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877\/revisions\/28879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}