They asked purposeful questions like “Do retreatin’ blisters hurt as much as advancin’ blisters?” And, addressed to an officer standing up in the face of enemy fire, “Sir, do ya hafta draw fire while yer inspirin’ us?” Every American history textbook from 5th grade to college has one of these cartoons of Joe and Willie in its section on World War II. They found comfort in foxholes, sometimes filled with rain, the bombed out rubble of a town, or when very lucky in a barn or house. War-weary, laconic, ironic, bedraggled, bearded, determined to stay alive, find relief from the rain, mud, cold, officers, rear-echelon soldiers, and, oh yeah, enemy fire, Willie and Joe were regular guys marching beneath bullet-dented helmets from Italy to Germany. cartoonist whose cartoons for Stars and Stripes provided the iconic images of the WW II infantryman. Willie Joe contains an introduction and running commentary by DePastino, providing context for the drawings, pertinent biographical details of Mauldin’s life, and occasional background on specific cartoons (such as the ones that made Patton howl).Īnother public service by the folks at Fantagraphics Books, who publish The Complete Peanuts, as well as many other classic and seminal comic or cartoon works. Presented in a deluxe, beautifully designed two-volume slipcased edition of over 700 pages, this tome is edited by Todd DePastino, Mauldin’s official biographer. Their dark, often insubordinate humor sparked controversy among army brass and incensed General George S. With their heavy brush lines, detailed battlescapes, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect, Mauldin’s cartoons and captions recreated on paper the fully realized world of the American combat soldier. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper.

Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America’s citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory. Army.įantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin’s complete works from 1940 through the end of the war. During WWII, the closest most Americans ever came to the war was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S.

Mauldin willie and joe