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Willie and Joe: The WWII Years

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During WW II, the closest most Americans ever came to combat was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army.



This new paperback edition of the 2008 two-volume, deluxe hardcover set brings together Mauldin’s complete works from 1940 through the end of the war under one cover. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America’s citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory.



Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it. Mauldin’s cartoons and captions recreated on paper the fully realized world of the American combat soldier.



Willie Joe is edited by Todd DePastino, Mauldin’s official biographer. Willie Joe contains an introduction and running commentary by DePastino, providing context for the drawings, pertinent biographical details of Mauldin’s life, and occasional background on specific cartoons (such as the ones that made Patton howl).

692 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2008

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About the author

Bill Mauldin

38 books22 followers
William Henry "Bill" Mauldin was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from the United States. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe. These cartoons were broadly published and distributed in the American army abroad and in the United States.

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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Jeff Dawson.
Author 23 books107 followers
February 5, 2018
Read this over thirty years ago. It was good then and is still a good read today.

You have to love the comedic take Bill Mauldin took on the World War Two theme. Willie and Joe are the a-typical GI caught up in a conflict they know must be fought but have a hard time with how the Army does things.

My favorite is when, I think it’s Willie, has to shoot his jeep. It just won’t go another mile.

Four Stars
Profile Image for Rick.
778 reviews2 followers
October 19, 2008
Another public service by the folks at Fantagraphics Books, who publish The Complete Peanuts, as well as many other classic and seminal comic or cartoon works. Mauldin was a G.I. cartoonist whose cartoons for Stars and Stripes provided the iconic images of the WW II infantryman. War-weary, laconic, ironic, bedraggled, bearded, determined to stay alive, find relief from the rain, mud, cold, officers, rear-echelon soldiers, and, oh yeah, enemy fire, Willie and Joe were regular guys marching beneath bullet-dented helmets from Italy to Germany. They found comfort in foxholes, sometimes filled with rain, the bombed out rubble of a town, or when very lucky in a barn or house. They asked purposeful questions like “Do retreatin’ blisters hurt as much as advancin’ blisters?” And, addressed to an officer standing up in the face of enemy fire, “Sir, do ya hafta draw fire while yer inspirin’ us?” Every American history textbook from 5th grade to college has one of these cartoons of Joe and Willie in its section on World War II. The grieved sergeant standing by his disabled jeep, one hand hiding his eyes, the other holding a revolver about to be fired into the jeep’s engine to put it out of its misery. (A gag, you learn from this superbly comprehensive anthology, Mauldin used twice.) Willie and Joe sitting on a front step, taking a little R&R from the front, responding to a clean-shaven rear-echelon corporal, who stands over them, “He’s right, Joe. When we ain’t fightin’ we should act like sojers.” This last was a theme of Mauldin’s, who got in trouble with some brass hats, most notably Old Blood ‘n’ Guts himself, General George Patton. The two had a “no rank” meeting in which Patton displayed two particular cartoons that offended him—one showed the army’s victorious entrance into a liberated town with citizens throwing kisses, flowers, and gifts, while Willie and Joe took advantage of the shower of gifts to toss fruit at their officers in the jeep ahead of them; the other showed Allied troops entering a stage show featuring Girls, Girls, Girls, with enlisted men going in the front door and officers with flowers entering the stage door. Willie and Joe were not regulation. They were dirty. Their uniforms had holes in them, were missing buttons. They almost never shaved, rarely had the privilege of a bath. Smoked cigarettes, drank whenever they could, bent the rules of requisitioning, resented the privileges officers enjoyed, including being saluted, having regular soldiers dig their foxholes for them, and carry their equipment, and unwittingly prepare a room in a newly captured town for them (“We could go to Naples, sir,” says a major to a general, “I know a corporal with a nice apartment.”) Mauldin as a G.I. had a baby-face, making ironic the fact that his signature characters always had several days or weeks growth on their faces while their creator doesn’t look as if he could have mustered a beard without benefit of a scissors, horse’s tail, and glue. He was 21 or younger when his cartoons began appearing in Stars and Stripes but already a professional cartoonist of some experience. Early work is included in this anthology, but not later, feeding hopes that there will be a companion anthology of Mauldin’s post-war work, which included Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoons. The early work isn’t that interesting but it does at least show how Joe started out as an American-Indian, Mauldin’s pre-war drawings were set in his native Southwest and featured stereotypical cowboys and Indians. It seemed natural therefore that when he began drawing his soldiers with the start of the war one would be a Native American. For some reason, when Mauldin’s WW II cartoons began to focus on two primary characters, the one named Joe became Willie and Willie became Joe. Perhaps that is explained in Depastino’s biography, Bill Mauldin, A Life Up Front, which I’ll be adding to my to-read list. Willie & Joe, The WWII Years is a very handsome, two-volume, slip-cased anthology. A prize to have and enjoy.
Profile Image for Thom.
1,825 reviews75 followers
May 31, 2021
Been flipping through this for months, thanks to a liberal renewal policy at the library. Collects the war comics of Bill Mauldin, popular among soldiers for both humor and accuracy (especially the weapon illustrations). An appropriate book to finish on Memorial Day weekend.

Roughly linear presentation over two hardcover volumes, starting with a biography of the author/illustrator. Endnotes mention the specific conditions for some of the comics, and give a glimpse into the publication process with notes to the editors.

Bill was in Italy for much of the late war offensive; some of the comics include the Mountain regiment and were reprinted in Isserman's The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors which I read earlier this year. Looking forward to reading more from Mauldin, if I can find it.
Profile Image for Bruce.
446 reviews83 followers
November 7, 2008
This huge, heavy, 2-volume set took me all of 3 days to devour. It's incredible, and three cheers to Fantagraphics for compiling it. Casual readers of Peanuts will know Bill Mauldin as the WWII vet with whom Snoopy routinely quaffs root beers on Veterans Day. Schulz thus pays homage to a cartoonist who with wit and painstaking visual accuracy brought the daily travails of the infantry to his fellow soldiers and those on the home front.

This set is valuable on several levels. First, it documents Mauldin's dazzling art and compositional craft, which Charles Schulz was right to lionize (check out the way Mauldin draws hands, sets the positional attitude of his characters, and shades the surroundings). Second, it provides an eye-witness view of America's experience of the European theater as Mauldin projects the experience of his fellow soldiers growing from their days as a provincial member of the National Guard stationed in Oklahoma (with classic racial prejudice he draws his few blacks as minstrel-show stereotypes) before the US enters the war to a mature, jaded, and war-weary advocate for compassion (witness his panel in which the closing of a local bar for a local general's victory parade denies succour to Mauldin's traumatized heroes). Third, it's has the humor and poignancy of M*A*S*H*.

The books are heavy to tote around, but well worth the effort. For more on these books, I strongly suggest reading Rick's review.
Profile Image for Kirby Davis.
Author 9 books5 followers
April 11, 2020
Mauldin's humor provides unique insight into what USA WWII infantry endured on the European front. As a timeline, these books also offer limited insight at the growth of an artist through punishing conditions.
Profile Image for Geordie.
554 reviews28 followers
April 4, 2020
Not as funny or as emotional as Mauldin's later work, but still, ANYTHING by him is worth reading!
Profile Image for Roger.
30 reviews10 followers
May 3, 2024
Like many others, I love cartoons in magazines—I mean the single line caption ones in The New Yorker, now apparently the only steady provider of this kind of entertainment, plus the ones formerly common in mass circulation periodicals through the 1960’s, The Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Arizona Highways, Cosmopolitan, others.

At used bookstores, I often find collections by my favorite artists, Charles Addams, Peter Arno, William Hamilton, Roz Chast, Bob Mankoff, George Booth, Whitney Darrow, Chon Day, others. New, these collections are expensive, and one reads them quickly and then, after a few years, intermittently. Still, they are a steady source of pleasure. I own 60 such, crammed into the tall spaces of my shelves. Libraries are a sensible source.

During World War II, Stars and Stripes regularly featured drawings by Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) whose iconic soldiers Joe and Willie provided gentle, humane, savage comic commentary of army life during that conflict. Thus I was delighted when in my local library I found a two volume, sumptuously produced (by Fantagraphics) set of Maulden’s drawings, Willie & Joe. Oh boy!

I have enjoyed Maulden primarily in my copy of Up Front, the artist’s illustrated account of being a cartoonist during World War II (New York: Henry Holt, 1945). Willie & Joe promised a generous trove of more. All my favorites were there. Two soldiers in a foxhole on a perilous battlefield: “I feel like a fugitive from th’ law of averages.” Joe, doing up a jacket in the midst of active conflict: “Ever notice th’ funny sound these zippers make, Willie?” And, thanks to Fantagraphics, several hundred more, may of which I did not know.

However, inclusiveness does not serve Maulden well. In his memoir of becoming a cartoonist and of being cartoon editor of The New Yorker, Bob Mankoff explains that every week cartoonists submit dozens of roughs and ideas, hoping to sell one to his magazine. The winnowing is crucial.

Up Front has the best of Maulden. Some of the Fantagraphics notes illuminate the drawings, Maulden's thoughts behind them, and the reception of individual cartoons. There are a few good previously not-much-seen ones to add to the œuvre, but, alas, many drawings not in Up Front fall flat. Either the point is unclear, or the humor isn’t as sharp, or the drawing less polished.

Get Up Front if you haven’t seen it. It sold widely and is easy to find. If you just love them, then go for Willie and Joe at $65 or free from your library.
Profile Image for Pat.
1,319 reviews
October 21, 2019
I first ran into Bill Mauldin through his political cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s. Somehow I came across his book "Up Front" and fell in love with Willie and Joe. So wonderful to have the complete wartime collection along with some background material.
Profile Image for Glenn Webb.
9 reviews
July 7, 2018
Bill Mauldin gave a sly slant on the day to day life of the foot soldier. Mauldin's comics were anticipated by the soldiers to break up the monotony between battles/flights.
4 reviews
February 1, 2019
watta mess!

Never have seen any book jump around like this, every 5 pages it just goes nuts and flips around. Wow!
Profile Image for Mary Catelli.
Author 55 books203 followers
June 13, 2013
A two-volume collection of Mauldin's comics from his days in the Army, before and during World War II, and even before he was in the army.

He had a lot of trouble selling comics when war broke out, even though soldier-based comics were very popular; all the popular ones were of civilians precipitated into Army life and their humor lay in the clash between it and their old lives. Mauldin drew Army life as a man to whom it was normal.

When Ernie Pyle praised him, he got syndicated. The War Department appreciated it, particularly the grimmer ones -- he didn't show carnage, but he conveyed nonetheless the difficulty and weariness of war -- because it helped the public see that victory would be hard.

And then there's a whole collection. His very early ones tended to be of Indians -- dressed in a loincloth and with feathers in the hair, and solemnly telling two whites whose car broke down, "I think it's the distributor" and the like -- but then he joined the National Guard. After foundering as a quartermaster and being unable to get a job on the paper, he volunteered for infantry. And we start to get the comics about camp life and training and maneuvers. (There's notes in back to explain some obscure references.)

And then we had war. Mud and foxholes. A Santa Claus who insisted on his sergeant's stripes being added to the jacket. Sick call and how the doctors, unlike civilian life, want to convince them that they are well, not ill. British comments on how messy their battlefields were (Americans salvaged a lot less of their equipment.) Yugoslavians that Mauldin met in Italian -- they had been used as slave labor there. Willie observing that when the Germans run away, they chase after to catch them, and when they catch them, they try to make them run away. A first aid station with a civilian sitting between two soldiers -- and a corpsman looking out to announce it's twins. A chaplain with one hand to his ear saying, "Forever and ever, Amen. Hit the dirt."

Lots of interesting cartoons.
Profile Image for Alger Smythe-Hopkins.
1,101 reviews175 followers
May 13, 2014
A sharp and complete antidote to the "Good War" nonsense that floats around WWII. The war was a chaotic and sad mess for almost everyone on the ground fighting it, and there is no shame in admitting the stupidity and frustration that must have gone with that experience. Willie and Joe were the icons of that war for the foot soldiers, and I will assume that they knew best what the conditions and frustrations were.

Then there is Mauldin himself.
Any National Guard Infantry Sargent who could cause so much anger and fear among the army brass that Eisenhower commanded Patton to sit down and talk with Mauldin on equal terms to see if they could work things out, and Mauldin walked away unbent? That is a true American Hero.

I grew up with Mauldin in the Sun Times, completely unaware of his work in WWII, and even then his work stood out for its clear-eyed view of events and certainty of justice. It is a real pleasure seeing all of Mauldin's war era drawings collected.

The first book includes the sketches from before his deployment to Europe, and like many cartoonists of his era he relied heavily on ethnic jokes and stereotypes. He quickly turned that around once he joined a unit with Native Americans and from that point you can see his work focus more on situational humor.

The second book are the wartime cartoons that made Mauldin a celebrity among the readers of Stars and Stripes. There are a few that I recognize, but many many more that are completely new and remarkable for their jaundiced view of army life.

The reproductions are generally 1st rate (which is astonishing given the conditions and media upon which they were published), and the gags are still painfully funny 70 years later.

One thing I don't like: There was no reason to add end notes to the volume, when there is plenty of room for footnotes on every page.
Profile Image for Tom.
760 reviews9 followers
October 6, 2012
This collection is an interesting look into the life of infantry soldiers, a.k.a. "dogfaces," in World War II. It's an interesting read since these comics by Bill Mauldin were mostly for other troops, appearing in Stars and Stripes. Due to the audience, there is a lot of visual jargon that could be lost to someone not as familiar with the equipment, insignia, and other details of life in the service. This book is good in that it adds handy notes to help explain some of the panels when they are a bit beyond the knowledge of a civilian like me. The book also had an interesting brief biography of Mauldin's life and even detailed how his cartoons ran afoul of General George S. Patton. I have been meaning to and look forward to reading Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front at some point to get more detail.

Part of the impetus for my reading this was I saw a Bill Mauldin created political pin with Willie or Joe telling explaining "I Like Adlai." while at work. Itwas a fun little find in the Ohio Historical Society political pin collection.
Profile Image for Beth.
1,081 reviews14 followers
December 20, 2012
A comprehensive collection of Bill Mauldin's World War II cartoons, including military cartoons featuring his proto-Joe character. The cartoons are amazing, and some include footnotes explaining the joke, social situation, or discussing responses to the cartoons.

The cartoons are preceded by a biography of Mauldin.

I must say I appreciated this collection more because I'd read Bill's book "Up Front" years before, which gives detailed background on many of the comics. And I wish more of the comics had explanatory footnotes.

Still, a great read--or a great gift--for Mauldin fans, or a WWII fan or veteran who would enjoy comics of the experience of the ordinary "dogface" Army soldier.
Profile Image for Andrew Brozyna.
Author 4 books4 followers
July 26, 2016
These comics, drawn by a GI for his fellow enlisted men, offer valuable insight into the experiences of the common American soldier. And if you are at all familiar with WWII, they are funny as hell. Fantagraphics did an excellent job with the book design and packaging. The stamped linen box and covers have a nice historic touch, and the design of the interior does a good job referencing the look of period documents.
Profile Image for Kevin Findley.
Author 14 books12 followers
April 16, 2016
The humor in this two-volume set is timeless. Mauldin truly had a gift for getting not just a joke across but the whole situation that Willie and Joe found themselves in every week.

I would really encourage those people with no military background at all to read this or any other Mauldin collection. It will give them a great sense of what people were going through back then and the sense of humor they wielded to deal with it all.
Profile Image for carl  theaker.
937 reviews54 followers
March 18, 2010

Got this for Christmas 2008 and glad I did. A collection of Mauldin's WWII cartoons which made Willie & Joe a standard for GIs. Had to pace myself, only 1 cartoon a page, so I did some savoring along the way, get the feel of the artwork and pathos.

Includes a short bio on Bill. Americana in Europe at its best.

Profile Image for Grant.
1,418 reviews6 followers
April 14, 2014
Mauldin's comics provide an outstanding way to understand the experiences of American soldiers in World War II. This collection, carefully drawn from the various publications to which Mauldin submitted work, allows the reader to follow chronologically the changing attitudes of "GIs" from induction to demobilization. Highly recommended!
Profile Image for Ron.
4,076 reviews11 followers
October 1, 2014
Finally had a chance to read through this complete collection of Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe cartoons. Saw some old, familiar faces , but also plenty of cartoons I had not seen before. I also enjoyed the brief biography that came at the beginning of the first volume. If you enjoy Willie and Joe, search out these volumes and enjoy!
151 reviews7 followers
May 19, 2014
I can identify with Willie & Joe, especially their feelings. I've never been to war but "I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages" quite often. Bill Mauldin draws the essence of the common soldier (man) with an eye to detail.
Profile Image for Kirsten Reay.
600 reviews5 followers
March 20, 2009
One of my favorite comic collections of all time. I recommend this for anyone who's interested in comic collections, WWII or just looking for a laugh.
Profile Image for Shannon T.L..
Author 6 books57 followers
May 28, 2009
really interesting collections of comics from ww2. interesting to see how the characters develop. i highly recommend this for comic buffs and for history buffs.
Profile Image for David Anthony Sam.
Author 13 books25 followers
January 3, 2010
I always loved the Willie and Joe cartoons by Mauldin. This is a great and comprehensive collection.
Profile Image for Robert.
4,584 reviews30 followers
April 3, 2017
Fascinating and comprehensive first hand source material from one of America's best cartoonists.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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