tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post8634847646783226994..comments2024-03-29T05:29:08.934-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/29/24: Mauldin urges us to always face the truthNeil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-7866958834562844272023-09-20T13:14:11.314-05:002023-09-20T13:14:11.314-05:00I'll say. I'm pleased to have a reader who...I'll say. I'm pleased to have a reader who's 34.Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-54739802372812923032023-09-20T12:28:09.967-05:002023-09-20T12:28:09.967-05:00I've been a big admirer of Bill Maudlin since ...I've been a big admirer of Bill Maudlin since I was ten. I spread his name and message as much as possible to other folk of the younger crowd (I'm 34). I was fortunate enough to find a copy of Back Home at the book barn, a true sanctuary. There are people that know and appreciate him and his work and more importantly, understand it. There is hope.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-41656730577750876272021-05-17T19:17:29.197-05:002021-05-17T19:17:29.197-05:00The great cartoon of a dispirited GI escorting Ger...The great cartoon of a dispirited GI escorting German prisoners, with its ironic headline, echoed a sentiment expressed by that soldier's soldier, the Duke of Wellington after Waterloo: "Next to a battle lost the greatest misery is a battle gained."<br /><br />TomTomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09641357239788323783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-11215480906923621592021-05-17T08:58:25.723-05:002021-05-17T08:58:25.723-05:00Mauldin was so offended and disgusted by the racis...Mauldin was so offended and disgusted by the racism, greed, selfishness, hatred, and bigotry of postwar America that he took a very sharp left turn in the middle and late Forties. That move nearly cost him his future as an editorial cartoonist, because it coincided with the beginning of the Cold War and the first years of what later became the McCarthy era. <br /><br />Mauldin's most famous "Willie and Joe" cartoons, from the war years, were published in "Up Front"--which was a huge best-seller in the summer of 1945. But a far-less-popular and little-remembered Mauldin sequel called "Back Home" was published in 1947. It contains text and images that will gladden the heart of any social justice warrior who can get his or her hands on a copy. It's not easy to find, but it's probably still available online. <br /><br />Mauldin wanted to have his two battered characters get killed on the last day of the war, but his publishers talked him out of it. So Willie and Joe survived briefly in Mauldin's cartoons just after the war, and were in some of his most biting, and acidic images in late '45 and early '46. There's also the far more recent "Willie and Joe Back Home"...which was issued in 2011, and edited by Todd DePastino, who also wrote the definitive biography of Mauldin a few years later ("Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front"). <br /><br />The disillusionment, cynicism, and bitterness felt by many returning World War II veterans is still crystal clear in the 2011 book, and some of the cartoons still have the power to knock you on your ass, all these decades later. So much has changed in America's last 75 years, but a great deal has not. Reading it will make a liberal both angry and sad.<br /><br />Mauldin becames a huge champion of civil rights, civil liberties, and free speech in the postwar years. Much of his late-Forties output was censored by his distribution syndicate, especially his attacks on racial segregation and anti-Communist witch hunts. There are less than a dozen pages of text by DePastino. The rest of the 2011 book is just composed of Mauldin's 1945-46 work...one magnificent image on each page. No additional words are necessary.<br /><br />All of these books are a must-read for any fan of Bill Mauldin, along with "The Brass Ring"--his 1971 memoir. All of them are treasures that occupy much-deserved space in my WWII library.Grizz 65https://www.blogger.com/profile/02892702223228764894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-12361234881597133542021-05-17T07:14:07.241-05:002021-05-17T07:14:07.241-05:00Such a genius, moral champion and courageous crusa...Such a genius, moral champion and courageous crusader. We old timers well remember this "local" hero. In 1969, about 5 years before I got there, Mauldin was commissioned by the National Safety Council to illustrate its annual booklet on traffic safety. Thanks for the heads up, this exhibit is now a must see.Baruchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10568908951400103413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-36401696341375139772021-05-17T05:46:24.586-05:002021-05-17T05:46:24.586-05:00"A history lesson that keeps bumping into cur..."A history lesson that keeps bumping into current events." I thought I had a clue, and a good one, about Mauldin. Hardly! You don't hear his name often enough among the "roll-call" (wink-face emoji) of great Chicago, yes, artists. And the Pritzker Library is also in my view another under-rated local treasure. Thanks again, Neil.J.J. Tindallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13381555158949851490noreply@blogger.com