Up Front

Up Front (2000–present, W. W. Norton) is a single-issue comic that distills the grim, gritty reality of World War II infantry combat through the lens of Bill Mauldin’s iconic cartoons, originally drawn for the U.S. Army newspaper Stars and Stripes. This collection, presented by the publisher most associated with literary nonfiction, brings together Mauldin’s signature characters Willie and Joe—dogfaces who embody the weary, sardonic spirit of the common soldier. It matters as a landmark of wartime cartooning, preserving the raw, human perspective of the front lines that shaped how generations understand the soldier’s experience.