A review by jeremydaniel
Shigeru Mizuki's Hitler by Shigeru Mizuki
challenging
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
2.5
The opening talks about portraying the human side of Adolf Hitler but I feel like this ends up being disingenuous. Mizuki’s Hitler does shine light on the early years of Hitler but it’s incredibly brief. The main content focuses on his beliefs and his rise to power. It moves very fast, while context of people, places, and events is mostly served in a separate set of brief notes which, for me, disturbed the flow of the presentation.
This isn’t very surprising; an attempt at covering 56 years of someone’s life, especially someone that made such a huge impact on the entire world, is a large feat for a graphic novel. I imagine this would most likely not be the first place someone would head seeking an in-depth biography in the first place.
Some of the art was fantastic, particularly the artist’s signature style of mixing realism with manga elements. It’s eye-catching and unique, but I was left wondering what purpose it served in regards to recounting Hitler’s life.
The Holocaust itself is hardly mentioned which I found bizarre.
Ultimately, I found this manga to be shallow overall due to the reasons above. Covering the history of Hitler and all the events surrounding his rise to power is a massive undertaking, especially in this format. It’s the first graphic novel I’ve read where I didn’t think the genre was fit to tell the story.
This isn’t very surprising; an attempt at covering 56 years of someone’s life, especially someone that made such a huge impact on the entire world, is a large feat for a graphic novel. I imagine this would most likely not be the first place someone would head seeking an in-depth biography in the first place.
Some of the art was fantastic, particularly the artist’s signature style of mixing realism with manga elements. It’s eye-catching and unique, but I was left wondering what purpose it served in regards to recounting Hitler’s life.
The Holocaust itself is hardly mentioned which I found bizarre.
Ultimately, I found this manga to be shallow overall due to the reasons above. Covering the history of Hitler and all the events surrounding his rise to power is a massive undertaking, especially in this format. It’s the first graphic novel I’ve read where I didn’t think the genre was fit to tell the story.