The True Story of the Unknown Soldier (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781683965138)

Fantagraphics presents two experimental, early works by the French cartooning legend Tardi. These comics, created in the mid-'70s, provide a fascinating preview of the masterworks of his prolific career. While they are not narratively linked, an eerie sense of foreboding suffuses stories in this collection: they both depict sex and brutal violence and condemn the horrors of war.
The True Story of the Unknown Soldier follows a pulp novelist turned soldier who, driven to delirium amidst the trenches of WWI, becomes tormented by visions of his own seedy creations. This stream-of-consciousness tale visualizes the tortured psyche of its protagonist through dazzling dreamscapes and surreal scenarios. In The National Razor, a soldier returns from war a shattered man. Drowning himself in drink, he wanders the streets of Paris without purpose; in this numb stupor, he finds himself caught up in strange situations, lashes out in unexpectedly violent ways, and ultimately meets with a bloody end. At once a visceral depiction of the trauma wrought by war and a powerful denunciation of the death penalty and France's iconic guillotine.




Author: Tardi
ISBN-10: 1683965132
ISBN-13: 9781683965138
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Language: English
Published: 01/18/2022
Pages: 64
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 11.90h x 8.90w x 0.50d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/29/2021