I RENE TARDI PRISONER OF WAR IN STALAG IIB HC (2025)

"In the final volume of this intergenerational memoir, a powerful tribute to a lost generation of WWII POWs, the author's father, French soldier Rene, comes home. After five agonizing years as a prisoner of war and five months on a grueling march homeward, Rene Tardi, the legendary cartoonist's father, is awarded fifteen days of military leave. Rene struggles to rebuild his health, reconnect with his family, and imagine his future. With limited job opportunities, Rene re-enlists as a soldier, despite his disgust. After the birth of his son, Jacques, Rene receives new orders: return to Germany and help rebuild the country that imprisoned him. The story takes an autobiographical turn as the focus shifts to Jacques' recreated childhood memories and an exploration of the traumatic effects of war that ripple through the generations. "

"The conclusion to a Magnum Opus from one of our greatest contemporary cartoonists. Picking up where Vol. 1 left off, the second volume of Stalag IIB begins when captured French soldier Ren. Tardi finally gets a taste of freedom, as prisoners and German officers alike are forced to evacuate the POW camp he has languished in for the past four years. Thus begins the long, grueling journey eastward, where Tardi and his fellow POWs must evade the pursuing Russian Army, stave off their gnawing hunger, and contend with the increasingly illtempered and vicious German soldiers accompanying them. Throughout this harrowing odyssey, the only thing that keeps him going is the hope that he'll one day return home to France, where his wife Henriette patiently awaits him. Featuring meticulous line work punctuated by stunning splashes of color, Jacques Tardi's grim yet heartening biographical portrait of his father's life as a soldier during WWII is a personal and artistic triumph."