Title: The Comic Book War
Author: Jacqueline Guest
Publisher: Coteau Books
Age Range: Children (9+)
Time Period: 1943
Location: Calgary, Alberta
It’s 1943 when Robert Tourond gets a message from a falling meteorite – his favourite comic book superheroes really ARE protecting his brothers, who are all overseas fighting “that Hitler.” All Robert has to do is keep buying those comic books as they come in, and he’ll make sure everyone stays safe and sound.
Can Robert and his heroes really protect his brothers? What will happen if reality comes crashing into his world, like a meteorite falling from space? Who will help them?
Robert is the youngest of 4 sons, and not being old enough to enlist in the war has left him at home with his parents. The only things he looks forward to are secret-coded letters from his brothers and his monthly editions of his favourite Canadian comic books. After he finds a meteorite shard, he believes that these Canadian heroes are somehow connected with his brothers and that their stories are mirrors of his brothers’ adventures overseas.
He needs money somehow in order to be able to keep getting the books – and so first he competes against his arch-nemesis, Charlie – a girl – in a school contest to see who can collect the most fat for the war cause. Then he gets hired as a telegram delivery boy, frustratingly along with Charlie who he thinks is trying to ruin his life. The two of them learn to be friends while they start delivering telegrams to people with bad news from the war.
Then Charlie delivers a telegram to Robert’s house, and it’s time for Robert to discover if his comic book hero theory is true or not.
Based on an extended part of the Tourond family from Jacqueline Guest’s books, the Belle of Batoche and the Outcasts of River Falls – this book was an interesting view of the second world war and how it affected life here in Canada, as well as what life was like in the 40s.
I was particularly intrigued by learning that the war essentially opened the way for Canadian comic fiction to start and blossom – at least until the US comics were allowed across the border again.
I found the story grew on me as I read, as I hoped that the news Robert’s family received was a mistake, and as I grew fond of Robert’s character itself.
Although this book publisher is no longer in business, you could look for their books at your local library or second hand.
Note: This book has alcoholic parents and unwanted advances by an adult to the girl character, who also suffers from “girl problems” one day, the general negativity towards girls that was common at this time period, and also some visualizations of the violence of war.
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Thank you for the review – you understood the issues perfectly! I always like to give our kids credit for being smarter and more worldly than we, as parents, know. Canada has the best history in the world and I am all for creating an exciting read with that wonderful history as part of the story. Writing novels that open dialogue between generations is also very important. It is my hope the ‘The Comic Book War’ does this.
Jacqueline Guest
Thank you, Jacqueline for stopping by my blog. I have really enjoyed each of your books that I have had the chance to review.
The books I have been reading surrounding the ideas of war, really have left me wondering about my own feelings about war and about being the mom of boys (and how my feelings of war will affect them!) I love that this particular book really brought forth the idea of making war glamourous and exciting, idealizing the whole thing – as it seems many a young lad felt at that point – and how different that is from the reality of the experience. 🙂