Graphic Novel Review: Charley’s War – Hitler’s Youth
Charley’s War (vol. 8): Hitler’s Youth
Writer: Pat Mills
Artist: Joe Colquhoun
Publisher: Titan Books
Availability: Hardcover
Description: In this explosive new volume of never-before-collected comic strip, Charley comes face to face with a young corporal who will eventually change the face of the world as leader of the Nazi party: Adolf Hitler. The eighth action-packed volume of Charley’s War is rich in the detailed minutiae of the terror punctuated existence of a Tommy.
Charley’s War is a set of graphic novels that tell the tale of a young Tommy during World War I. In this, the eight volume of the collected strips, Charley eventually comes face to face with Adolph Hitler, well before his rise to become the leader of the Nazi party. There are a few things that strike me as interesting and unique about this graphic novel.
First, I have to say that I love Joe Colquhoun’s artistic style. It’s rough and gritty, and Colquohoun and Mills don’t try to sugarcoat anything. They don’t glorify war in the way that much of media tends to. War is not pretty, and there’s nothing pretty about either the telling of the story or the way that it’s illustrated.
Secondly, there’s the idea of Hitler before he became the Hitler we always read about in history books or see in movies. Charley’s War is a boys’ comic strip from the 1980s, and seeing a young Hitler inside of such a strip was definitely a very daring thing for the times. Such a thing could have offended many people; don’t get me wrong, Hitler isn’t portrayed as the nicest guy in the world in this comic, but he isn’t overly demonized, either. He’s just kind of a young punk-slash-jerkwad, really. Also, as far as I can tell, this has a lot of historical accuracy. Pat Mills obviously did a lot of research before writing this particular volume of Charley’s War, and the storyline is well-handled and thoughtfully done. There are a few close calls for Hitler, which definitely leaves the reader wondering, “What if…?”
Overall, I found this to be an interesting read. War comics aren’t really my thing, but I can see someone who is a history buff that is very interested in the World War I period thoroughly enjoying this graphic novel. Even someone who is interested in World War II would find interest in this collection, I’m sure, as it gives an interesting insight to Hitler’s youth before his rise to power.
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