Tag Archives: Nazi Germany

Three Diverse And Groundbreaking Graphic Novels

THE CASE OF ALAN TURING: THE EXTRAORDINARY AND TRAGIC STORY OF THE LEGENDARY CODEBREAKER An intimate graphic novel biography of Alan Turing the heroic British codebreaker of World War II, a brilliant gay man living in an intolerant world.He was recruited by the British government to help decipher messages sent by Nazi Germany’s Enigma machines during World War II.

The Case Of Alan Turing Graphic Novel CoverTuring’s work was instrumental in saving countless lives, millions in goods and merchandise, and is estimated to have shortened the war in Europe by four years.The specifics of Turing’s work at Hut 8 were only recently made available to the public—they were declassified in 2012. Authors Liberge and Delalande use this new information to create a graphic biography that is both scientifically rigorous, moving, and accessible. Story by Eric Liberge Illustrated by Arnaud Delalande Translated by David Homel 

BECOMING UNBECOMING by UNA This extraordinary graphic novel is part survivor memoir, part true crime story and a denunciation of sexual violence against women. As seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl named Una, it takes place in northern England in 1977, as the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer of women, is on the loose and creating panic among the townspeople.

Becoming Unbecoming explores what it means to grow up a girl in a global rape culture where male violence largely goes unpunished and unquestioned. Through image and text, Una questions and challenges a media and broader society who allow a serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, to become a “fascination,” while the women he murdered are barely remembered.

UNA (a pseudonym) is an artist, academic, and comics creator. Her self published graphic narratives have explored disability, psychosis, political activism, and violence against women and girls. Becoming Unbecoming, which took seven years to create, is her first book. She lives in the U.K. unacomics.com

AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2016 ISBN 978-1-55152-647-8 6 x 9 | 280 pp | reinforced paper full-colour throughout $26.95 USD/CAN Published by Arsenal Pulp Press US sales & Distribution by Consortium www.cbsd.com Canadian sales by Ampersand Distribution in Canada by UTP

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SUCH A LOVELY LITTLE WARSuch A Lovely Little War Graphic Novel Cover SAIGON 1961-63 Written and drawn by Marcelino Truong Translated by David Homel

This riveting, beautifully produced graphic memoir tells the story of the early years of the Vietnam war as seen through the eyes of a young boy named Marco, the son of a Vietnamese diplomat and his French wife.

Marco’s father is called back to Saigon in 1961, where he becomes Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem’s personal interpreter. As the growing conflict between North and South intensifies, so too does turmoil within Marco’s family; his mother’s manic and depressive episodes (she suffers from bipolar disorder) escalate and increase. MARCELINO TRUONG is an illustrator, painter, and author. The son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy), then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycée in London, then moved to Paris to earn degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.

 ISBN 978-1-55152-650-9 9x 11 | 101 pp | paper over board | full-color throughout $23.95 USD/CAN Published by Arsenal Pulp Press US sales & Distribution by Consortium www.cbsd.com Canadian sales by Ampersand Distribution in Canada by UTP

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WW2 Graphic Novel KATUSHA goes daily in free WEBCOMIC debut

Katusha Relaunch 2015

Garth Ennis: “Wayne Vansant has done a magnificent job with these first two volumes of Katusha.”
Wayne Vansant’s epic war story KATUSHA, GIRL SOLDIER OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR is being made available to read for free at www.katushagirlsoldier.com.  KATUSHA  (according to babynology.com, Katusha is a dimunitive form of Russian Ekaterina and Yekaterina, meaning “little pure one”. Katusha is also a famed Russian war song written shortly before World War II)  tells the story of a farm girl from Ukraine who becomes a Red Army tank commander during World War II.A coming-of-age story told against the backdrop of the bloodiest conflict in human history, the 1941-1945 Eastern Front between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, KATUSHA is created by writer/artist Wayne Vansant (Marvel’s THE NAM, Zenith’s Graphic Histories series).  Inspired by the experiences of thousands of women who served in the Red Army as pilots, snipers, tank drivers, and other roles, it forms a sprawling epic that will total three volumes and over five-hundred pages upon completion.
Katusha Relaunch
The first two graphic novels in the series, KATUSHA BOOK ONE: EDGE OF DARKNESS and KATUSHA BOOK TWO: THE SHAKING OF THE EARTH are currently available in digital and print format from Grand Design Publishing.  The webcomic version of KATUSHA will serialize both, adding a new page every day, with BOOK ONE completing in June and BOOK TWO completing at the end of 2015.  The third and final volume, expected in print in mid-2015, will begin serialization in January 2016.
One of Vansant's previous works, The 'Nam was an innovative and truly seminal comic.
One of Vansant’s previous works, The ‘Nam was an innovative and truly seminal comic.
KATUSHA has received praise from critics and comics professionals. History magazine Armchair General Magazine included KATUSHA in its “Stuff We Like” column.  Pat Mills, writer of the legendary British war comics series CHARLIE’S WAR has praised Katusha for dealing with a chapter in history that’s been overlooked in the West.  Garth Ennis, writer of PREACHER and WAR STORIES (which includes THE NIGHT WITCHES, a story about Soviet women pilots) said of Katusha, “It’s great to see the story of the Soviet women tankers kept alive. Wayne Vansant has done a magnificent job with these first two volumes of Katusha; I look forward to reading more”. Print editions are now available from Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and other online retailers. Ebook editions are available to consumers through ComicsPlus, Google Play, Kindle, and (soon) Comixology, and to libraries though Overdrive and iVerse.
Wayne Vansant and a blowup of his new work-in-progress: Katusha
Wayne Vansant and a blowup of his new work-in-progress: Katusha

KATUSHA BOOK ONE opens with young Katusha’s graduation from her tenth and final year of school. The next morning, Sunday June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union. The young woman and her family escape to the forests to begin a partisan war against the German occupiers. In KATUSHA BOOK TWO, Katusha and her sister Milla join the Red Army and are sent to tank school. Trained to operate the mighty T-34, Katusha fights from countryside to cities and learns the steep price to pay for victory.

Vansant has chronicled history in comics format since 1986.  He was the primary artist for Marvel’s acclaimed Vietnam War title, THE ‘NAM, and he has recently returned to historical fiction with his three-volume series KATUSHA, an epic of the eastern front of World War II.  He has researched, written, and illustrated many non-fiction graphic novels on subjects including the Korean War, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, and the Battle of Antietam. Since 2013 Vansant has released six non-fiction graphic novels through Zenith Publishing.  Vansant is a native of Georgia and served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War era.

Wayne Vansant Katusha

WW2 Smartphone Graphic Novel Katusha

KATUSHA VOLUME ONE: EDGE OF DARKNESS, the first of a three volume graphic novel series by historical graphic novelist Wayne Vansant, is now available exclusively in digital format from digital publishing imprint Grand Design Communications.

The painting Kateryna by the Ukrainian poet and painter Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861)influenced Katusha. Kateryna tells the story of a Ukrainian country girl who is seduced and abandoned by a Russian cavalry officer.

KATUSHA is a coming-of-age story set in the Eastern Front of World War II, following the life of a Ukrainian farm girl Ekaterina Tymoshenko, nicknamed Katusha, starting with the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany in 1941. The three-volume graphic novel, which when finished will total 540 pages, follows her journey from farm girl to partisan fighter to tank commander in the Red Army, along the way participating in the Battles of Stalingrad and Berlin, among others.

During the second world war, hundreds of thousands of Soviet women served in the Red Army as pilots, snipers, tank drivers and other essential roles. Although KATUSHA is a work of fiction, Vansant based his story on interviews he conducted with living veterans in Ukraine and extensive research. He will return for another trip this fall, to conduct more interviews and do research on locations.

Lviv, Ukraine, 26 October 2010 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is joined by Ukrainian officials as he pays tribute to Ukrainian poet, artist, and humanist Taras Shevchenko.

KATUSHA VOLUME ONE: EDGE OF DARKNESS, the first of three volumes, is out now exclusively in digital format for iPhone, iPad, Android, and in-browser reading. It is available in two formats – as six separate chapters priced at $.99usd each and as a single one hundred eighty page edition priced at $4.99usd, and can be purchased through iVerse’s ComicsPlus app and from Grand Design’s electronic storefront on iVerse’s website.

A native of Marbleton, Georgia, writer/artist Wayne Vansant has created many historical graphic novels – both fiction and non-fiction – in a career spanning more than twenty five years. His non-fiction graphic novel about the Allied invasion of Europe in World War II, NORMANDY, were be published in September by Zenith Press.

His recent collaboration with writer Dwight Jon Zimmerman, THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL (2012), a graphic novel about Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and the end of slavery in America was published by Hill and Wang, and Vansant was the primary artist for Marvel’s The ‘Nam for more than five years.

His other non-fiction graphic novels on military history include DAYS OF DARKNESS, ANTIETAM: THE FIERY TRIAL (with the United States National Park Service), BLOCKADE: THE CIVIL WAR AT SEA, and THE VIETNAM WAR: A GRAPHIC HISTORY.