Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope [Paperback]

Starred Review in Publisher’s Weekly

Guibert writes and draws for American G.I. Alan Cope in this poignant and frank graphic memoir of a young soldier who was told to serve his country in WWII and how it changed him forever.  When he first enters Fort Knox at 18, he is young and impressionable, more of a dreamer than “the military type.”  Slowly, Cope grows through his experiences in the war.  He forges candid friendships with his fellow soldiers and remains ever insightful in his recollections of the war and his life afterward.  Together, Cope and Guibert forge a story that resonates with humanity.  Guibert’s illustrations capture the time period vividly.  While the subject matter is familiar from many wartime memoirs, Guibert’s fluid, simple but assured linework captures the personalities of Cope and his friends, elevating the material to a far more affecting level.

Starred Review in Kirkus Reviews

This epic graphic memoir spans oceans and generations, with a narrative as engrossing as the artistry that illustrates it.

In his preface, renowned French graphic novelist Guibert (co-author: The Professor’s Daughter, 2007, etc.) explains the bond he shared with the much older Cope, who had served as an American soldier during World War II and left his native country to return to France in the aftermath. “He spoke well; I listened well,” writes Guibert. “Save two or three, his anecdotes were nothing spectacular. They evoked only very remotely what movies or books about the Second World War had taught me. Still, I found them captivating, because of the accents of truth they contained. I could literally see what he was describing.” Now the American reader can as well -- (the first volume of the collaboration was initially published in France in 2000, the year after Cope’s death). As the title suggests, this is one man’s war memories, filled not with tales of larger-than-life heroism but with the chance encounters, tragic absurdities and small kindnesses experienced by a sheltered young soldier of uncommon intelligence, as recollected by an older man who has come to take stock of his life and reconsider the values by which he has lived it. He comes to question himself, his country and humanity in general, while retaining a humanitarian warmth and a deep appreciation for the arts.

The narrative voice is captivating, and the black-and-white illustrations are often stunning, whether capturing the grandeur of Big Sur and the giant redwoods of California or showing the destruction of European villages by soldiers who shared a common bond of humanity with the civilian “enemy.” The Veteran’s Day publication befits a volume that underscores the resonance and legacy of war.

Thankfully for readers, Guibert promises a prequel volume on Cope’s childhood in California, in testament to “the storyteller in him that I was drawn to—his personality, his style, his voice, and his astounding memory.”

Review in 10/15 Booklist

After churning out a series of popular children’s books, French graphic artist Guibert recently detoured into biography. His chronicle of reporter Didier Lefevre in Afghanistan, The Photographer (in three volumes, so far), won several awards and raised the bar for Guibert’s versatile drawing skills. The unlikely subject of his latest biography is World War II veteran Alan Cope, an American retiree living in France, with whom Guibert developed a close friendship in the early 1990s. Cope’s charismatic demeanor and storytelling penchant gradually put a spell on Guibert, inspiring him to capture Cope’s life in a fascinating tapestry of illustrated anecdotes, reproduced letters, and photographs. Cope, it turns out, saw very little action during his extended European tour in the latter half of the war, yet his peculiar misadventures as a radio operator, tank gunner, and chaplain’s assistant carry their own appeal. His encounters with temperamental officers, friendships with fellow soldiers and German musicians, and struggles to find work in post-war France reveal a fascinating side of wartime life rarely seen in military films or history books. -- Carl Hays