Malgré nous #3

The third volume of Malgré Nous carries a quietly devastating weight: the cover presents a young man's bruised, bloodied face in close-up — a cut across his forehead, a darkened cheek, his expression caught somewhere between exhaustion and quiet defiance — while a hand rests on his shoulder, suggesting both solidarity and constraint. Subtitled Germania, this 2012 installment from Thierry Gloris and Marie Terray continues their series rooted in the harrowing experience of the Malgré-nous — Alsatians conscripted against their will into the German military during World War II. The intimate, pencil-toned artwork gives the story a raw, human tenderness that sets it apart from more conventional war narratives.