Never Again! World War I in Cartoon and Comic Art

Interesting exhibition at the Cartoon Museum telling the story of the First World War through cartoons of the time and since.

Some of the most memorable images of the war were the cartoons and even the famous Kitchener post began life as the cover of a magazine.  Cartoons had a major propaganda role. Some of the images also became icons of the time with Bruce Bairnsfather’s “Old Bill” becoming the face of the Tommy.

I liked the fat they included trench journals such as the Wiper’s Times as well as some journals which only had one or two issues. I also liked the inclusion of comic postcards as they were the works being bought by the troops and their families.

I wasn’t so sure of mixing in pictures from the Horrible History book on the First World War. It was a nice idea and made it more accessible to children but in quite a small cramped exhibition it would have been nicer to keep it cotemporary to the time.

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