Shigeru Mizuki's Hitler

Starred review from November 9, 2015
A fresh take on one of the most notorious villains in history is no easy task, but with this terrifying book, esteemed manga artist Mizuki (GeGeGe No Kitaro; Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths)—who lost an arm as a soldier during WW II—gives readers a tight narrative that shows how a man of humble beginnings can rise to power, wage war and genocide, and come within a hair’s breadth of conquering the world. From Hitler’s failure to pass exams for art school, to his beer-hall radicalizing, the book carefully sets the backdrop for his inevitable rise. Mizuki’s canvas is a provocative one,
juxtaposing medium-panel shots of Hitler’s day-to-day interactions with his inner circle and large establishing shots that oscillate between depictions of Hitler’s glory and Germany’s bombardment and ruin. He deftly balances dialogue and narration, never using a heavy hand or complicating the reader’s movement through the text. Impossible to put down, this is a candidate for the year’s best graphic novel.

January 1, 2016

The late Japanese superstar Mizuki (Showa), a World War II veteran who passed away November 30, is known for historical manga as well as stories about yōokai--supernatural monsters. In 1971, he combined both interests to take artistic aim at the real-life Fuhrer. Adolf Hitler emerges first as a failed art student and vagrant, despite grandiose fantasies. Numerous twists of circumstance later, the monster-in-training adopts visionary if deranged theories that appeal to his depression-beset countryfolk and develops into a persuasive orator. And with help from similarly minded men, he manages to ruin his country and much of the world. As in Showa, the art blends cartoony humans with photo-derived realistic settings, injecting sly humor at the ironies of history. Character cameos, maps, and copious notes provide help. VERDICT Mizuki shows Hitler as much a miserable human as he was monstrous, even as the narrative raises as many questions as it answers, despite its meatiness. A good jumping-off work for the history curious, teen and up. This translation is based on a 2011 French version, which may or may not reflect original nuances.--MC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
Living legend Mizuki shifts from his Showa series on the history of Japan to the life, times, and death of the vagabond would-be artist who, through improbable twists of fate, became humanity's chief archetype of evil. Mizuki's technique is to trace lifelike settings from photos against which he plops caricature main characters, an effect that, at first, is rather sickening, as the young Adolf's yowling face, complete with bull-snort blasts from his nostrils, looks disfigured alongside realistically depicted background characters. After readers acclimate, they will find themselves hanging on as Mizuki's point-by-point biography speeds through, with dizzying completeness, almost everything: the Beer Hall Putsch, niece Geli's suicide, the invasion of Poland, and onward. Except for the near-total exclusion of Holocaust details (an introduction posits justifications, but still it feels off), it's an impressive, cogent, encyclopedic feat, even if it comes at the high cost of characterization. Still, when Mizuki nails a caricatureRudolph Hess' Easter Island glower or Joseph Goebbels' rubbery fright maskit's worth a thousand words. Despite all flaws, this is singular, and your collection should have it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)