The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme

love the artwork and the story

Joe Sacco is a journalist and comic book artist. Born in Malta, he is now a citizen of the U.S. living in Portland, Oregon. He has gained a reputation for reporting on some of the world’s top hot spots in the manner of a comic book style. He has written books on the Bosnian War, the Gulf war and the Palestinian situation. This book, which I received a couple of weeks ago, is somewhat of a departure from his previous subjects. It is a continuous drawing of the battle as it develops from the evening of June 30th to the evening of July 1st, folded concertina style into 24 plates (or pages). Beginning with Haig leaving church that evening it then shows in the minutest detail how the preparations for the battle unfold. The initial bombardment by heavy guns, thousands of troops moving into position with horses, men, wagons and piles of munitions are all meticulously portrayed in line drawings. Night falls and leads to dawn as men take up their positions and prepare for the assault. When they start going over the top, Sacco correctly portrays the men with arms at the port as they expected little resistance. There then follow several pages of the battle … shells bursting … the men struggling to advance … falling, dying … dead. It ends with the return, the roll calls, advanced dressing stations and burial. His research of the subject was extensive. Having spent fifteen years in Australia before he moved to the States in 1978, he became fascinated by the Great War, especially of Gallipoli and the Dardanelles and it apparently never left him. He has amassed a large library on the war and he states in the forward that his inspiration for the work was influenced by the authors Martin Middlebrook and Lynn MacDonald among others. This is a fascinating work. Its approach is probably unlike anything we have seen in this field. Despite this, it must be taken for what it is. Without a proper understanding of the battle, the book can do little to inform one of the chaos and horror of that day. The depiction of the dead and dying soldiers cannot by definition be close to reality. One unfortunate note (for me) is that Sacco chose to include an extract from Adam Hochschild’s book "To End All Wars", which is a history of the pacifist/socialist movements during the First World War. Although he doesn’t distort the history, Hochschild trashes most of the British military hierarchy including, of course, Earl Haig. He dismisses the more recent reassessments of the Field Marshall and falls back on the old ‘butcher’ treatment. I would have thought an extract from Martin Middlebrook’s "First Day of the Somme" would have been more appropriate. Having said that, there is no doubt that The Great War by Joe Sacco will become an important and unique addition to the literature and iconography of this terrible war with which we will undoubtedly be bombarded in the coming five years.

I have never been to war. I don't know if any medium can represent what goes on in battle, but I certainly feel I have a better insight after this book. The author is inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry in creating a series of images that seek to present battle in many aspects, from the preparations behind the lines, to the horror of "over the top", to the survivors who returned and the burial details for those who didn't. This was a must for my WWI library. There are no words. The entire book is black and white line drawing. The only identifiable individual is Field Marshal Haig. It seems almost facetious to say that the book must be examined like a Where's Waldo book to find all of the details that the author has included. The book consists of a continuous accordion fold sheet that carries the battle through the first day. Each page is packed with the small events of war that were occurring at that day in the battle.

This is a panorama - 24 connected panels that tell the story of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. It includes a printed history and a key to understanding the panorama. The whole thing is presented in a hard slipcase and is gift quality. I am most impressed with the technical ability that keeps the day flowing across the panels, with troops marching up or heading out, explosions, air surveillance, certain buildings, trenches, no man's land, and barbed wire. This seems like it would be impossible to achieve, but I'm holding it here. Buy this one. It's a keeper.

No matter how hard I looked on each of the beautifully illustrated panels, I could not find Waldo. Maybe it's because this books is illustrated in Black and White and I'm not up for the challenge. I thought I saw him on 4th panel in the upper right, but close examination revealed that I was mistaken. Maybe he's on the last panel where they're burying the dead, but I would consider it bad form if we can only find the arm or leg of Waldo. That would kind of be cheating. I hope the next book about the Bataan Death March is an easier puzzle.

Amazing diorama! I wonder what the artist would think if he was asked to "colourise" the scenes he depicts during the Battle of the Somme. Maybe he has already been asked. The World War 1 museum in Kansas City procured what once was a football length "cyclorama" with 5000 full sized paintings of the well-known and perhaps not so well-known figures of the "war to end all wars" called The Pantheon de la Guerre. Even though pieces of it have disappeared over the years since the end of that it is still too large to display in its entirety I presume. Joe Sacco's The Great War is fascinating and I was compelled to take out my magnifying glasses to get a closer look. It was well worth the effort.

I used this book to get kids engaged in WWI. The art is so good, and it brought up so many questions for students - why were there hospitals right on the front lines? what battle was this? etc. My students were captivated by the picture, and it's such a unique format.

Incredible art and excellent quality

Ohne Worte vermitteln die detaillierten Bilder die Schrecken des Ersten Weltkriegs auf eindrucksvolle Art und Weise. Die Zeichnungen sind einfach grandios. Das Buch hat mich sehr bewegt, ich nehme es immer wieder zur Hand und entdecke immer wieder etwas Neues.

excelente libro y todo bien con la entrega, muy rapido

もう少しワクワクする絵巻物を想像していたが、 それほどではなかった。 まあ、労作ではあるが…。

Produto chegou em ótimo estado.

In una parola: capolavoro.