World War Two: Against the Rising Sun

Author: Jason Quinn
Illustrator: Naresh Kumar
Publisher: Campfire, New Delhi
(Pp: 168, ISBN: 9789381182005)

Well crafted in easy-to-follow narrative style plus stunning visuals, World War Two: Against the Rising Sun is a graphic novel, which leads readers to a comprehensive episode of the biggest war that the mankind ever suffered till date.

The storyline revolves around an inclusive account of the war as it happened by and large around Asia Pacific, between the Allied forces and Japan. The story is told from the perspective of combatants and civilians from both sides, giving an all-round understanding of key events during the half-decade long war. Beginning of the story unfolds with private Hisao Tidako from the Imperial Japanese Army leaving home for the war, saying he never wanted to join army, he wanted to study to become a doctor, not soldier—he wanted to heal, not kill.

Reliving the tragedies and sorrows of the World War Two, the story stresses right from the day of Japanese invasion of China in 1937 till the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. A first person narration goes on as eyewitnesses of the soldiers and civilians reporting from different war zones in the east. The prolific narrators comprise Brad Forrest from the US Navy, Malayan civilian Adiputra, corporal Hank Bannerman of the US Marine, sergeant major Sukhinder Virdi from the XVI Indian Infantry Brigade, private Derek Wales of the British Army, corporal Aamani Khoor of the Indian National Army, among others, who share their pains and anguish that they have overcome while facing the encounter from the Japanese army. Author Jason Quinn pens down the war saga in a crunchy way; his racy narration makes the graphic novel an irresistible page-turner. He is an award winning author who bagged the Best Writer accolades from Comic Con India for his works—Gandhi: My Life is My Message and Steve Jobs: Genius by Design, both published by Campfire. In the league of production team, illustrator Naresh Kumar is the artist behind the action-packed war visuals in the novel. A firm believer in humanity, his photorealistic style captures the subtle emotions of his characters. This is second time Naresh has associated with Campfire for the graphic novel, the first being Genesis: From Creation to the Flood.

World War Two: Against the Rising Sun is told in a lavished and thoroughly researched text, illustrations and dialogues, giving the readers the feel of a big budget war movie. It has been announced that Campfire is working on another title of the same genre, World War Two: Under The Shadow of The Swastika, almost certainly to be released by September 2015.

– Jyaneswar Laishram