Remember Pearl Harbor

Pin-Up #1

by Yann (Artist), Yann (Writer), Topaze (Colourist)

1941. Dorothy Partington sert de modèle au dessinateur de comics Milton. Sous son crayon, elle se métamorphose en Poison Ivy, la vamp pulpeuse et patriotique, terreur des Japonais et égérie des braves G.I's combattant dans le Pacifique.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Bande Dessinée, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Adventure

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Pseudonym of Yann le Pennetier or Lepennetier, who also publishes as Balac, is a French comics writer.

[FR]
Après ses débuts dans la publicité et l’architecture, ce Marseillais s’est lancé dans la bande dessinée en 1974 en dessinant pour Spirou à Bruxelles où il habite désormais.

Remercié par le journal pour dessins irrévérencieux, il avait noué des liens forts de franche camaraderie avec Conrad avec qui il a notamment réalisé les Innommables en 1980 et lancé la Tigresse blanche en 2005.

Ses premiers scénarios l’avaient conduit dans l’univers de Franquin avec le Marsupilami en 1989 et de Goscinny avec Lucky Luke sans oublier son one-shot sur une aventure de de Spirou. Il écrit depuis pour de nombreux dessinateurs comme Berthet (Pin Up, Yoni, les exploits de Poison Ivy), Simon Léturgie (Spoon White), Félix Meynet (les Eternels) avec ou encore Herval (Tiffany), René Hausman (Les Trois cheveux blancs, Le Prince des écureuils), Yslaire (Sambre), Joël Parnotte (Le Sang des Porphyre)...

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set during World War II, Pin-Up is the story of two star-crossed lovers separated by the war. Joe fights in the South Pacific while Dottie tries to make ends meet back home. After struggling for awhile, she eventually falls into modeling for a comic strip for the troops. The story is solid and I really liked the art.

Received a review copy from Europe Comics and NetGalley

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nuori amerikkalaisnainen Dorothy kaipaa rintamalle lähtenyttä sulhoaan ja päätyy malliksi taiteilijalle, joka piirtää rohkeanhumoristista strippisarjakuvaa sotilaiden moraalin kohottamiseksi. Ja niin vaan käy, että malliinsa ihastuvan sarjistaiteilijan työt alkavat saada inspiraatiota todellisuudesta, minkä myös japanilaisia vastaan taisteleva poikaystävä huomaa. Ja siitäpä se tarina sitten käynnistyykin.

En ollut lukenut Yannin ja Berthetin "Pin-Up" (Like, 1997) -sarjakuvaa vuosikausiin, mutta suunnilleen niin viihdyttävä paketti toisen maailmansodan Tyynenmeren taisteluja ja jonkin sortin ihmissuhdemelodraamaa tämä oli kuin muistelinkin.

[kuusela harry-pekka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok slice of life from the era of the war on the Pacific.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different type of wartime romance involving US troops fighting in the Far East in 1943.
The issue of Pearl Harbour remains a major incentive for those fighting but this is when the balance in the war is yet to turn.
Joe goes off to war. His sweetheart is Dottie who is a one man woman but like any soldier Joe hasn’t yet committed his love.
Joe is lost in action and in the time it takes for him to be restored to his unit Dottie’s life takes on a new direction. Not of her design, but soon she is being touted as a pin-up model for the nose of B-17 planes.
In meeting the famous artist she captures his heart and imagination for a new heroine in a comic strip called Poison Ivy.
Drawn and included in a newspaper to the troops Joe on his return to his unit finds a strange familiarity with the men’s new pin-up.
His letters continue to reveal his affinity for Dottie but war is beginning to have a toil on him.
Part 1 ends with Dottie struggling with the difference between Joe’s reality and the light, easy going stories in the comic strip where Poison Ivy is a one woman enemy killing machine.
She is further frustrated by the illustrators admission of his love for her. She rejects Milton, but is soon heartbroken by Joe breaking off their relationship.
I liked the sense of wartime spirit; the ease of relationships away from the front contrasted to the less free and easy values of Dottie.
A good introduction to a promising series. Well drawn and with an original script that steers away from stereotypes and clichés.
Dottie’s and Joe’s individual journeys and the changes in their outlooks throws great insight into the losses of war and the combined effort defeating one’s enemy took.
Vann is a talented writer and can be forgiven for his involvement if rich kids driving patrol boats which is a salient point even if he uses JFK to underline it.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume one of this series provides an intriguing start. It is World War two and Joe is busy fighting the Japanese. His supposed girlfriend Dottie has promised to wait for him but when she manages to get a job as a comic strip model things begin to change.

Poison Ivy is the most popular comic with the troops, but Joe having recognised Dottie in the comic is simmering away in the simmering South Pacific. When he sends Dottie a skull she realises her relationship with Joe is at an end and she stops modeling for the comic, but the comic artist responsible for the comic sees an opportunity to get back at Dottie for rejecting his advances. Suddenly Joe finds that he is one of the characters in this comic and we are left wondering what will happen next.

This is certainly an engaging story with good graphics and it will be good to see how it develops.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Pascal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ayant lu des revues positives de cette série, j'ai attaqué le premier opus avec un apriori favorable, et j'ai été séduit par le récit qui mêle la grande histoire (la deuxième guerre mondiale vue des USA) et les petites histoires, comment une femme ordinaire devient pin-up star, comment un dessinateur fait rêver les Gis, comment tout cela s'imbrique, avec aussi une place importante donnée au rôle des femmes, leur identification... De plus les dessins sont aussi très beaux, les formes bien rendues a mon gout...

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in English

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

DPL hoopla

[StrictlySequential ArtNarrative · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story: ****
Art: *****

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sly and Sophisticated

I expected this to be an updated variation on an "Atlas Comics" or "Action Comics" type war issue, with maybe a bit of "Mary Worth" soap opera for variety. Boy, was I wrong. This is smart, witty, sly, and edgy. It's also sexy, fast paced, and funny.

The setup at first feels standard. Joe is off to war, and Dottie is the girl he left behind. She tries to be a "good" girl, and fends off wannabe Lotharios. But she ends up as an artist's model, and then ends up as the model for a wildly popular comic strip about a patriotic vamp named "Poison Ivy". Joe, stationed in the South Pacific, figures this out and the book ends on a cliffhanger of relationship drama.

But here's the really good part. Dottie is a straight arrow, but not a dope, and she shows some real grit navigating wartime America. Dottie has a tough sarcastic pal, Talullah, whose hard-nosed take on survival is keen and edgy. Joe has a ripping South Pacific wartime adventure that rivals any of the original old-school G.I. Combat numbers. As a bonus, we get a fair number of the "Poison Ivy" strips, (as a sort of comic story within the comic book), and they are clever and wildly non-PC.

I remember reading the old war comics, and they could be grim, earnest, dark, and slow. This story saves the best of that genre, but perks it up, speeds it up, and freshens it in an amusing fashion.

All of that is greatly complemented by the drawing. Action is crisp and clear, without over reliance on detailed lines, heavy inking, and claustrophobic small panels. There's a lot of nudity, because the girls around Dottie work as dancers, escorts, and pin-up models, but it's presented in a matter of fact, working girl, style that has a 1940's vibe. This isn't exactly a feminist manifesto, but there's more Rosie the Riveter than cheesecake in these women characters. This might get soapier in later volumes, but at least in this issue all of the characters have some heft.

So, this ended up being an entertaining hoot and a nice find.

(Please note that I had a chance to read a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

A comic better be good if it's supposed to sell a potential reader on all NINE of its sequels, and this wasn't. It was a complete muddle of the WW2 GI in the Pacific theatre, and his girl left behind, who stumbles into the position of becoming the life model for a comic writer for one of the military newspapers. The problem is you don't really get to care for anybody here – certainly not any of the blokes, who are all designed to look ugly. The girls are supposed to look pneumatically buxom, which is fine if you have a plot to carry those peaks along on, and this doesn't. Finally, a whopping (and surely a record for this publishers) 23 years before it got rushed to the translators for this English language presentation shows what standing it has in the industry. One and a half stars.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Pin-Up Vol. 1: Remember Pearl Harbor with story by Yann and art by Philipe Berthet is a graphic novel set during World War II.

A GI is headed off to fight in the Pacific. His best girl is left behind. This story follows both their stories. He finds himself surviving on an island with an eccentric outcast helping to spot Japanese. She finds herself modeling for a series of comics to help inspire the troops.

I liked this story of two common people caught up in events that take them out of their comfort zones. The art is good. I liked the retro comic strips that are toward the end of the story.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite interesting. A comic from the 50s all about comics and the second world war. It focused on a solider who was fighting and almost killed and his girlfriend back home. Her story was the more interesting. She lost her job and moved in with a friend who got her working at a local strip/burlesque club. She ended up posing nude and became the inspiration for a series of comics for the men fighting the war. The illustrations were good, except for the not-so-subtle racism. It really highlighted how sexist and hard life was for women at that time. Interesting story and I hope I come across the rest of the series sometime.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe is getting ready to be shipped off to the South Pacific while his fiance stays behind in the States. Joe manages to survive behind Japanese lines with a coast-watcher while Dottie starts working as a cigarette girl at a local club. Her mysterious tattoo lands her the role as model for "Poison Ivy" in a comic strip for the military papers. The fun ensues when Joe gets back from behind the lines and discovers the comic strip. An interesting angle on relationships during World War II. Will need to check out the next volume.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent artwork depicting WWII in Japan for an American soldier and his girl in America, missing him. Joe finds himself alone in the jungle, while his fiancee is a straight edge girl feeling lost. While Joe tries to survive, Dottie tries to find a calm before the storm until his return. Read while Dottie becomes an infamous pinup girl and Joe feels a connection to this pinup.

[Sevim Tezel Aydın · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’est une histoire d’amour et d’aventure qui s’est déroulée pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. On raconte l’histoire de deux amants séparés par la guerre. Joe se bat dans le Pacifique tandis que Dottie attend son retour et essaie de trouver un emploi. L’histoire est moyen mais j’ai vraiment aimé l’art...

[Komuniststar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jedan od onih stripova kojeg se nakon par mjeseci pokušavam sjetit i jedino ca pamtim je da je bi lipo nacrtan (pin up je to ipak :) i da je priča bila dovoljno zanimljiva da kažem sebi da ću pročitat sljedeći album ko naletim na njega, ali nedovoljno da ga i potražim.

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellente relecture.
toujours aussi bien !

[Elia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, this goes absolutely nowhere! Totally pointless!