It's 1943 and World War II is raging. 15-year-old Robert Tourond is home in Calgary, but his three brothers are all fighting the Nazis. Robert follows the exploits of his favourite comic book heroes who also battle bad guys in the comics Robert spends his allowance on. When Robert finds a meteorite in Nose Hill Park near his home, in the same week that a meteorite features in his heroes' stories, Robert is convinced that a magical link exists between them, adn that the superheroes will protect his brothers. Robert has a nemesis of his own on the streets of Calgary - a girl they call "Crazy Charlie." When Robert gets a job delivering telegrams, Charlie does too, cutting into his profits. Then they discover exactly what those telegrams they're delivering have for the recipients. Then Charlie has to deliver one to Robert's house. Can Robert and his heroes really protect all three brothers and bring them home? What will happen if reality comes crashing into his world, like a meteorite falling from space? Who will help then?

Contributions by Derek T. Buescher, Travis L. Cox, Trischa Goodnow, Jon Judy, John R. Katsion, James J. Kimble, Christina M. Knopf, Steven E. Martin, Brad Palmer, Elliott Sawyer, Deborah Clark Vance, David E. Wilt, and Zou Yizheng One of the most overlooked aspects of the Allied war effort involved a surprising initiative--comic book propaganda. Even before Pearl Harbor, the comic book industry enlisted its formidable army of artists, writers, and editors to dramatize the conflict for readers of every age and interest. Comic book superheroes and everyday characters modeled positive behaviors and encouraged readers to keep scrapping. Ultimately, those characters proved to be persuasive icons in the war's most colorful and indelible propaganda campaign. The 10 Cent War presents a riveting analysis of how different types of comic books and comic book characters supplied reasons and means to support the war. The contributors demonstrate that, free of government control, these appeals produced this overall imperative. The book discusses the role of such major characters as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Uncle Sam along with a host of such minor characters as kid gangs and superhero sidekicks. It even considers novelty and small presses, providing a well-rounded look at the many ways that comic books served as popular propaganda.

Conventional wisdom holds that comic books of the post-World War II era are poorly drawn and poorly written publications, notable only for the furor they raised. Contributors to this thoughtful collection, however, demonstrate that these comics constitute complex cultural documents that create a dialogue between mainstream values and alternative beliefs that question or complicate the grand narratives of the era. Close analysis of individual titles, including EC comics, Superman, romance comics, and other, more obscure works, reveals the ways Cold War culture--from atomic anxieties and the nuclear family to communist hysteria and social inequalities--manifests itself in the comic books of the era. By illuminating the complexities of mid-century graphic novels, this study demonstrates that postwar popular culture was far from monolithic in its representation of American values and beliefs.

Baghdad, 2003. The reign of Saddam Hussein is over. The Americans are in command. And no one is in control. Former cop turned military contractor Christopher Henry knows that better than anyone. He’s in the country to train up a new Iraqi police force, and one of his recruits has just been murdered. With civil authority in tatters and dead bodies clogging the streets, Chris is the only person in the Green Zone with any interest in finding out who killed him-and why. Chris’ inquiry brings him first to Sofia, an American-raised Iraqi who now sits on the governing council, and then to Nassir, a grizzled veteran of Saddam’s police force-and probably the last real investigator left in Baghdad. United by death but divided by conflicting loyalties, the three must help each other navigate the treacherous landscape of post-invasion Iraq in order to hunt down the killers. But are their efforts really serving justice-or a much darker agenda? Inspired by his real-life experiences as a CIA operations officer in Iraq, writer Tom King (BATMAN) teams with artist Mitch Gerads to deliver a wartime crime thriller like no other in THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON VOL. 1: BANG. BANG. BANG., collecting issues #1-6 of their groundbreaking Vertigo series.

Between 1941 and 1945, Hitler was pummeled on comic book covers by everyone from Captain America to Wonder Woman. Take That, Adolf! is an oversized compilation of more than 500 stunningly restored comics covers published during World War II, featuring America’s greatest super-villain. From Superman and Daredevil to propaganda and racism, Take That, Adolf! is a fascinating look at how legendary creators such as Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Alex Schomburg, Will Eisner, and Lou Fine entertained millions of kids on the home front and buoyed the spirits of GIs fighting overseas by using Adolf Hitler as a punching bag.

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Handmaid's Tale, comes this historical fiction graphic novel tracing the Golden Age of Canadian comic books. Collects War Bears issues #1-3. Oursonette, a fictional Nazi-fighting superheroine, is created at the peak of World War II by comic book creator Al Zurakowski who dreams of making it big in the early world of comics publishing. A story that follows the early days of comics in Toronto, a brutal war that greatly strains Al personally and professionally, and how the rise of post-war American comics puts an end to his dreams. Internationally and New York Times best-selling novelist Margaret Atwood and acclaimed artist Ken Steacy collaborate for one of the most highly anticipated comic book and literary events!

Comic books have presented fictional and fact-based stories of the Korean War, as it was being fought and afterward. Comparing these comics with events that inspired them offers a deeper understanding of the comics industry, America's "forgotten war," and the anti-comics movement, championed by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, who criticized their brutalization of the imagination. Comics--both newsstand offerings and government propaganda--used fictions to justify the unpopular war as necessary and moral. This book examines the dramatization of events and issues, including the war's origins, germ warfare, brainwashing, Cold War espionage, the nuclear threat, African Americans in the military, mistreatment of POWs, and atrocities.

Collects War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery #1-5. The creators of blockbuster podcast The Adventure Zone bring their talents to Marvel! Earth is under siege — but could the key to turning the tide be Thor’s baby sister? Journey into mystery with Miles “Spider-Man” Morales, Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop, Wonder Man, Balder the Brave, Sebastian Druid and Death Locket for a wild romp through the War of the Realms as they embark on an epic quest to save Earth’s only hope! (And, yes, deal with diaper duty.) But Ares, the Greek God of War, is hot on baby Laussa’s trail. Plus: Marvel’s long-dead Western heroes join the War of the Realms! But how? Whose side are they on? And what if our unlikely crew stumbles upon a convention of super villains? Brace yourself for truly legendary adventures in babysitting!

Ryan Taber's father is about to deploy for his first tour of duty with the Canadian army in Afghanistan. Ryan lives his days on an army base in Alberta, and spends his evenings at the CyberKnights cafe, playing his favourite video game, Desert Death. At CyberKnights, Ryan meets the Desert Death ultimate champion and becomes entangled in a world of danger and deceit that begins to resemble the very real circumstances his father is facing overseas.

A superb new graphic memoir in which an inspired artist/storyteller reveals the road that brought his family to where they are today: Vietnamerica GB Tran is a young Vietnamese American artist who grew up distant from (and largely indifferent to) his family’s history. Born and raised in South Carolina as a son of immigrants, he knew that his parents had fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. But even as they struggled to adapt to life in America, they preferred to forget the past—and to focus on their children’s future. It was only in his late twenties that GB began to learn their extraordinary story. When his last surviving grandparents die within months of each other, GB visits Vietnam for the first time and begins to learn the tragic history of his family, and of the homeland they left behind. In this family saga played out in the shadow of history, GB uncovers the root of his father’s remoteness and why his mother had remained in an often fractious marriage; why his grandfather had abandoned his own family to fight for the Viet Cong; why his grandmother had had an affair with a French soldier. GB learns that his parents had taken harrowing flight from Saigon during the final hours of the war not because they thought America was better but because they were afraid of what would happen if they stayed. They entered America—a foreign land they couldn’t even imagine—where family connections dissolved and shared history was lost within a span of a single generation. In telling his family’s story, GB finds his own place in this saga of hardship and heroism. Vietnamerica is a visually stunning portrait of survival, escape, and reinvention—and of the gift of the American immigrants’ dream, passed on to their children. Vietnamerica is an unforgettable story of family revelation and reconnection—and a new graphic-memoir classic.