World War 3 Illustrated

April 7, 2014
In addition to providing a history of the eponymous political comics anthology, this collection also traces the development of the progressive politics that came to define the Occupy movement of 2011. Appropriately, the collection ends with that explosive protest. It begins with the East Village squatting scene, viewed through the comics of the period, and covers broader topics like police brutality, women’s rights and religion, with a New York–centric focus. As the anthology stomps through the years, 9/11 is discussed, along with Israel, Hurricane Katrina, the Bush presidency, the Oaxaca riots, and other trouble spots. At times, the comics resemble the cartoonish agitprop that has become standard in radical protest over the decades, and readers’ appreciation of them will depend as much on their agreement with the authors’ views as on the aesthetic merits. Still there is no disputing the passion and conviction on every page. The best work—particularly that of Peter Kuper and Eric Drooker—uses biographical elements to personalize the topic. Far ahead of its time, World War 3 paved the way for the more established forms of comics journalism now. Even when the passion on display here overcomes craft, this is an indispensable collection of groundbreaking comics.

September 15, 2014

George Washington, Mahandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. led rebellions against injustice, and the fight goes on worldwide. For the past 35 years, World War 3 Illustrated has published progressive comics commentary on macro- and micropolitical struggles, and this anniversary anthology presents 80-plus selections grouped roughly by theme. Police brutality, environmental issues, women's empowerment, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Occupy movement, for example, all come to life here in personal as well as broader narratives. Always passionate and striking, the pieces range from "Jesus Is Suffering for You," Mike Diana's primitively drawn but explicit and devastating satire on Sunday school through "K-9's First Time," K-9 and Fly's somber account of a nine-year-old girl pressured into sex (finely crafted pen-and-ink drawings) to Kuper's teal-washed inks about the Israel/Palestine hostilities. An especially cutting send-up, also from Kuper, slams George Bush as antihealth insurance and prowar but in the color kiddy cartooning style of the old Richie Rich comics. VERDICT While background notes would have clarified selections lacking contextual details, this disturbing yet stirring sampler of views, topics, and techniques for activist comics should prove enlightening and inspirational reading.--M.C.

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