Two Generals by Scott Chantler
I've been a fan of Scott Chantler's since North West Passage. Chantler has a curious habit of giving his work titles that don't fully match the content. North West Passage, describing a fictional conflict set in a fort in Rupert's land in the early days of the Hudson's Bay company is not about the long and repeated attempts to find the Northwest passage. Similarly Two Generals is actually about two Lieutenants. The name comes from a short note scrawled as a joke on the back of a photo of the two men.
Graphic Non-Fiction is just about the rarest breed of book, and this is an example that will hopefully make it just a little less endangered. It is based on the diary of Chantler's grandfather Law Chantler who saw action in the Normandy invasion during World War II. The story is also informed by letters home and by military records of the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) out of Cambridge Ontario. The first part of the story describes the friendship between Law Chantler and Jack Chrysler another Canadian Lieutenant in the same regiment. Chantler has recreated a vivid moving and accurate portrait of the lives of 2 officers as they prepar for the largest amphibious invasion in military history.
The second part of Two Generals concerns the invasion and the push to Caen. The HLI had an important role in the capture and defense of Buron, a bloody and pivotal conflict that has often been overshadowed by more well known larger scale battles usually involving American or British forces. Chantler manages to convey the horror, loss and destruction of war effectively. While he does not shy away from unavoidable violence and gore, he also doesn't overdo it as often happens in the graphic books. Two generals is an accessible and emotionally moving portrait of one of the lesser known battles in Canadian history.
One thought on “Two Generals by Scott Chantler”
This is a great comic! I just finished reading it. I really liked the art. I’ll be looking up more of Chantler’s books, I think.