ABOVE THE DREAMLESS DEAD

By Chris Duffy (author), Phil Winslade and others (illustrator)

> Review by Emil J. Novak Sr.

“The War To End All Wars”. We have all heard this famous line, which turned out to be famously not prophetic. The quote originally appeared in WWI news articles by H.G. Wells during the “Great War” and eventually became a book using this as its title. As WWI dragged on, an artistic movement took hold in the U.K. by soldier-poets who rejected the idea that war was a romantic or noble enterprise. They were called Trench Poets. With the approximately 40 million men killed during this foolhardy conflict, the words from these men who fought and suffered from this war are still as poignant and fresh as the day they were written. Publisher First Second Books, along with writer and bestselling editor Chris Duffy (Nursery Rhyme Comics, Fairy Tale Comics) bring the words of those who suffered this war, lived through it, and survived to tell of their war experiences. Many of those soldier-poets never lived to see their works published anywhere, yet alone in a graphic novel. Though now we can humbly reflect with those soldiers and what they suffered through. 20 poems are interpreted with contributions from well known comic artists, writers, and poets.