The second of what may become a trilogy about Jacques Tardi's father Rene's experiences as one of the hundreds of thousands of French POW captured during WWII. It's an amazing accomplishment; working from the barest of notes his father kept, interviewing him (in the eighties), poring over historical records kept of the war in various archives, Jacques Tardi constructs a pretty detailed biographical account in this volume of the arduous trip from Stalag II B back to France, much of which has to take place under armed Nazi guard as the Russian invasion forced the Germans to take their prisoners westward. The account involves son Jacques filling in many gaps in the narrative, relying on his imagination and speculation, sometimes correcting his Dad's faulty memory.
The story is told as if Rene were telling the story in detail, with his son at his side, an imaginative and humanizing approach. It's a long and brutal trudge over many weeks, but the sense in which Jacques perseveres is agonizing and impressive. Rene is not depicted as a hero, but just as a guy who served his time and wants to get home. Jacques, in his fanciful place at Rene's side on the journey, as a young boy, sometimes reacts in horror as his father gives account of crimes he committed along the way, including killing some of his Nazi captors.
It's a great artistic accomplishment, one of many accounts of war from the master Tardi. And yes, Rene makes it back to his wife Henriette awaits him. Two essays, one by Tardi, complete the beautifully made, over-sized volume from Fantagraphics.