Barefoot Gen Volume One A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima

One of the classic graphic novels about the Hiroshima bombing that ended WWII.

Likeable, didactic, brutal. Something about the depiction of the stout conchie father, the irreverent kamikazes feels off, not that I know what on would be. The art is almost all sketchy, and the lettering is pretty ugly. But it goes through anyway, the cheerful Astro Boy grins with starvation, death cults, and injustice.

Charming and haunting. Spend an afternoon weeping and wondering what the hell we were thinking, what we're still thinking.