I really enjoyed this graphic novel talking about Churchill's life and his involvement in World War II. It's a great way to learn history and learn more about a very important and influential political leader of the 20th century.

I love a graphic biography, especially for use in the classroom! It is an excellent and fun way to introduce students to a character they may not have otherwise read about. This comes at a perfect time - with The Splendid & The Vile being such a hit.

'Churchill: A Graphic Biography' by Vincent Delmas with illustrations by Christophe Regnault & Alessio Cammardella is a look at a famous life.

Starting with Winston's early family life and the disappointments of his father, this looks at his military career and his military career up through the end of World War II. Winston had his disappointments and failures early on, but he was able to push through those and become one of the most influential people of the 20th Century.

Included is an introduction by Andrew Roberts with photos of Winston. The narrative is a bit dry, but the illustrations really shine here.

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

Reading this graphic novel was a lot of fun. Seeing the early days of this historical figure gave context of where they came from. At an early age they had an idea what they wanted to do, but weren’t entirely sure how to get there. Yet it was in wartime where some of their greatest feats occurred. If you are a fan of this historical figure, then this is a graphic novel you will want to read.

I think graphic novels are one of the coolest ways to learn about history. Honestly, I would have learned so much more back in my high school days if I had history books like this. So, I'm seriously impressed by this book just for the premise.

I also really like learning about Europe, so seeing a non-fiction biographical graphic novel about Winston Churchill made me quite excited and I just HAD to pick it up.

This book isn't the purest of graphic novels. If you're expecting something like a manga or comic book, you've got to get through the first half. It's more of a history textbook (in a good way - very informative and knowledgeable) with real pictures from Winston Churchill's past. He's a really interesting fellow, and this book gave a great overview and biography of him. This book is really just an introduction and overall summary of this man's life, but it's exactly what I expected it to be. Let's be honest, this man was basically a legend for all of the things that happened in his life, so 100 pages wasn't going to cut it for his ENTIRE history.

Once you get past the introduction, you get into the graphic novel portion and it is SUPER COOL. The illustrations are detailed, the colours are rich and it suits the story really well. It's really interesting to look at just like the information is interesting to read.

Overall, this was a ridiculously cool graphic novel and I'd love to see more bios written like this. It's awesome!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A graphic novel of Churchill's life from a young man involved in skirmishes as part of British colonialism up to the end of World War II. This focuses on the political side of his life leaving his personal life mostly unsung. I found this very interesting being born years after his death. Churchill was a very complicated man, often contradictory and contrary but quite brilliant. I would have liked to see this continue into the 20 years he lived after the end of World War II. The art was quite good.

Winston Churchill is a figure well-known to people all over the world. He has been hailed as the man who saved the West, led Britain to victory in WWII, and there have been over 1000 (actually 1010) biographies written about him. Yet none of these biographies have illustrated the life of Winston Churchill, rather they have told it. In association with the Naval Institute Press, writer Vincent Delmas and artist Christopher Regnault capture Winston Churchill’s life combining visual imagery with text in their new graphic novel, Churchill.

Summary:

The graphic novel focuses on Churchill’s drive towards glory. Beginning in 1880 a young Churchill residing at Blenheim Palace learns his ancestor, John Churchill, defeated Louis XIV at Blenheim in 1704. As a result, Queen Anne rewards John by making him the first Duke of Marlborough and granting him a palace at Blenheim. Intrigued by the Duke of Marlborough’s success, Winston begins to seek glory as his ancestor did. This quest is only reinforced by his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who was an articulate speaker, thinker, and well-respected figure within the House of Lords. In order to achieve the prestige of both his father and the Duke of Marlborough, Churchill realizes that he will join the Army. After graduating twentieth in his class from Sandhurst Churchill uses his mother’s connections to secure placements in different military areas around the world. This is done with the full intention of becoming a member of Parliament and to surpass the glory his ancestors achieved.

Churchill became a member of Parliament in 1900 and by 1904 Churchill began to criticize aspects of his own Conservative Party. In 1908, after switching to the Labour party, Churchill became the First Lord of the Admiralty. He foresaw Germany becoming a problem and began to make plans to revolutionize the Navy. This included having more ships with larger guns, and planes all to prepare for the conflict with Germany. As the war starts with Germany and wears on with lack of progress Churchill is removed from power and defamed through a false report. In 1916, the Conservative Party regains power in the government and releases a report clearing Churchill’s name. Returning to government he introduces the concept of a tank which allows for twenty-seven miles to be gained on the war front for the cost of six million pounds. With this addition, he is tasked to convince America to join World War I and fight alongside the United Kingdom, which he successfully does.

Upon winning the Great War (WWI), Winston Churchill has the foresight to realize that the Treaty of Versailles is going to fail. Yet, he is powerless to do anything about it as his colleagues effectively made him a back bencher. In 1932 Churchill realigned himself with the Conservative Party, where he was once again challenging his own party’s policies and actions.

At the onset of World War II Great Britain’s practice of appeasement not working, Churchill was brought back to his old position as Lord of the Admiralty in 1939. By May of 1940 Churchill became the new Prime Minister and mobilizes troops against the Germans. Initially, under his leadership as Prime Minister, Britain faced several defeats including having to retreat at Dunkirk and France surrendering to Germany. Despite these losses Churchill inspired and kept both his troops and citizens optimistic as the battle progressed onto UK soil. While publicly leading his troops, Churchill was also privately convincing President Roosevelt to provide money and destroyers to help the British fight off Hitler.

As WWII progressed luck struck for Churchill three times. The first being that the British had cracked the code on the secret messages the Germans were sending to their troops. Hitler had broken a nonaggression pact with Stalin, causing a 2-front war for Germany. Japan, an ally of Germany, attacked America, pushing the United States to join the war.

In 1944 the United States, the United Kingdom and French troops under Charles de Gaulle, participated in a joint operation known as D-Day. Despite the number of soldier’s lost, D-Day was a successful operation and was the start of the end of the war for Germany. Knowing this Roosevelt choose to allow Stalin to claim Berlin, rather than risk more loss of life for the United States. After victory was claimed, Berlin and Germany were divided into sections, one under the control of the Allied forces and the other under the control of Russia. Churchill, who had a great work and friendship with FDR, was furious with Roosevelt’s decision not to claim victory as a means to stop communism. With these two groups now controlling Germany, no thanks to Roosevelt, Churchill understood that Nazism had been just been replaced by the new threat of Communism.

Significance:

There is a difference between telling history and showing history and the graphic novel, Churchill, illustrates the journey of Winston Churchill from his childhood to becoming Prime Minister of Britain during the world’s most trying time. This is done in a variety of ways starting with showing us the initial motivation for Winston Churchill to want to become involved in public service reflecting the accomplishments of his ancestor John Churchill and his father Lord Randolph. Regault’s illustrations combine with Dalmas text show us the flavor of Winston Churchill’s personality throughout the novel. You can see Churchill as he develops from childhood into adulthood and how he is less interested in living up to his family’s name and more concerned with preserving democracy not only for his country, but for the world.

Dalmas and Regault present the biography in an academic way we do not lose any of the history in the graphic novel format. The novel shows the expression on Churchill’s face as he debates in Parliament and stands firm on what he believes in. We see his motivation and his drive and the difficult decisions depicted in the illustrations. You can see the frustration on Churchill’s face when FDR would not commit to full capture of Germany because he saw that this decision would not stop the spread of Communism.

Churchill is a well-done biography. Presented in the graphic novel format it offers a different perspective of Winston Churchill’s life. Regault and Dalmas capture Winston Churchill as one of the most important democratic leaders of the twentieth-century. He not only saved Great Britain, but he saved the entire world from falling to Nazi Germany.

I thought this was good but not great, maybe because I also just finished another book about Churchill ([book:The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz|51187948]) that I thought showcased his personality better and dealt with WWII more clearly. Not bad though, overall! I learned a fair amount and wasn't bored.

This is an interesting little title. I've always had a fondness for Churchill, but hadn't read a full book about him, and I like graphic novels, so this seemed like it'd be a good fit.

The best part about this book is the art, hands down. I loved seeing how Winston aged as the book progressed, starting out as a young, handsome redhead(!) and ending up as the rotund balding Churchill that we generally see. The other aspects of the art were good, too, of course, but I really loved how Churchill came across in particular.

What I didn't like so much were the intros. There was a historical introduction, which basically told the story that was told in the graphic novel, except with real pictures of Churchill, and it was so unnecessary. It's a GRAPHIC NOVEL -- don't have pages upon pages of text that you're going to cover anyway in the main story! Those pages could have been used for other things, like Churchill's life after the war (the book stops at the end of WWII) or for more character development. It's a short book -- don't waste pages!

Which brings me into another thing, the lack of much of his family. We get chunks with his parents at the beginning, but we meet his wife on his wedding day, and she shows up mostly in the background throughout the book. Why nothing leading up to the marriage? I know that his wife was hugely influential in his life, and it would have be nice to have that acknowledged. I think his kids show up in a panel, but I don't think they're named or anything.

This is a book that's definitely about Churchill the politician, and neglects him as the man. Which I understand, as the book isn't long and has to cut somewhere. But I would have loved a bit more of him as a man to make him more human, rather than just a grand historical figure driven by the knowledge of his own destiny.

If you're curious and want an overview of Churchill's career, this may be the book for you. The art is the best part, but there's information too.

The artwork and the story is really. I'm glad Churchill is getting this graphic novel treatment. A movie other than Darkest Hour should be made based off of this book.

THIS is what an historical graphic novel should be! the introduction gives solid context and establishes the depth of the writers' intent. The illustrations are nothing short of jaw-dropping. In one sitting, readers are able to encounter the personality and the times of a huge figure in 20th century world history. Highly recommended.

Churchill: A Graphic Biography is my second Graphic Novel.

Many of us have watched various documentaries and movies about Winston Churchill as he is such a well-known historical figure. In fact, one could argue if it wasn’t for Churchill standing up to the evil of Adolf Hitler (when many wouldn’t) the western world quite possibly would have fallen to Nazism. The last Churchill biography I read was The Churchill Factor - written by the effervescent Boris Johnson (yes, he of the foppish hair, which was an excellent biography and I highly recommended it. I therefore came to this Graphic Novel with a smidgeon of knowledge about the subject.

This book covers his life from that of a little boy running around Blenheim Palace (his birthplace) in 1880 to the end of WW2 in 1945. This guy packed so, so much into this life. He was descendant of the Duke of Marlborough line, his father was Conservative MP Lord Randolph Churchill – so Winston was from aristocratic stock. He also participated in numerous wars in places like Cuba, India, Sudan and South Africa, this was followed by his time as a parliamentarian where he managed to swap teams (twice) and was known as an outspoken, unruly, opinionated man with very few friends. But he had a massive intellect and mind. He held various senior posts in Government such as First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for War, Minister for Munitions and Chancellor of the Exchequer and a few others. He ended up being Prime Minister after Britain decided they had enough of appeasing Hitler and needed someone to stand up to him. Well, Winston was your man – has was a fighter. He was also an accomplished painter, bricklayer (a hobby - of all things), writer and journalist, historian and orator.
Okay there is so much a book needs to cover if they want to do this giant of a man justice. Probably easier to cram his full story using words into a 500-600 page book as compared to 120 pages of pictures with speech bubbles in a Graphic Novel. Well these guys did it, they really did.
The writing was on point, as was the artwork. In fact, the artwork was superb. The pictures almost came alive in front of your eyes. Now, I am not sure my previous reading filled in any gaps – that’s hard to tell – but the team Vincent Delmas, Christophe Regnault et al hit the significant points in this period of his life very nicely indeed. But I would have liked a little more about his wife Clementine and their relationship, even if it was a couple more scenes – small criticism.

Some of my enduring images and takeaways of this delightful book include:

• Winston was a prolific drinker. Particularly in the latter part of the book, a champagne or whiskey glass was forever in his hand
• His desire to fight – whether it be politics or war. He wanted to be right in the middle of it.
• Winston loved giving free advice, to anyone.
• His Dad wasn’t what you’d describe as a helicopter parent.
• It’s lucky he didn’t die during the number of conflicts he participated in.
• The ‘pissing scene’ on the Siegfried line towards the end of WW2.
• His suspicion of Stalin and Communists in the post-war period.

You’ll also receive a good supply of Churchillian quotes, you will see the usuals – but my favourite this time was “When I was younger, I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.”

I will give this book 5 stars as I enjoyed it so much, and isn’t that what it’s all about? I had a ball – and for those new to him, what a great place to start.

Enjoy.

5 Stars

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an unbiased and fair review.

I'm a big fan of Churchill so I was happy to receive this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The story itself was very entertaining. Seeing Churchill as a child and younger man was especially interesting since we always see him as an elder gentleman. The drawing style was very fitting for the settings and historical time and the colors nice and calm - it didn't pop and made the story look like a comic.

There's a lot of heavy dialogue and small pieces of text. It seems a bit much for this type of visual format but other than that, it was very entertaining.

⭐⭐ 2 Stars

Churchill is a unique depiction of the life of Winston Churchill that places his story in the context of the times while enabling the reader to truly visualize the key moments in his life and career.

Although the illustrations were great. This book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I expected a full history on one of Britain's most memorable Prime Ministers but what I got was a very brief, very one-sided depiction of history. This is not the book you should read if you want an objective view of Churchill that shows his flaws as well as his strengths. He held some radical racial views and I think any book about him today should mention this. Instead, the character of Churchill and all those who surrounded him were caricatures. There was no sense of empathy developed at all which could be partially due to the time skips that made the story poorly paced and difficult to follow. I really disliked the ending. It seemed rushed where the rest of the story dragged.

So all in all. Read this to learn about one of Britain’s most well known prime ministers. And then pick up something else and learn about his character.

Maybe start with this article something that was recommended to me by my GCSE history teacher back in 2015.

You Should Read This Book if you Like:
+ Subjective Historical Fiction 🎞
+ Realistic Art Styles 👩🎨

Trigger Warnings: Graphic depictions of a war zone. Winston Churchill half-naked.

PREORDER this book now for $19.95 👴.

I received an advance review copy for free via NETGALLEY. I am leaving this review voluntarily 📚.

Not quite what I was expecting. This is a graphic novel and biography, but it's not quite either too.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.

This book explored a unique format: the biography of Winston Churchill as a graphic comic. Because of this format, I was able to read this book in one sitting. I don't feel like I got a comprehensive biography out of Churchill out of it, but I felt that this touched upon many of the highlights in an entertaining and digestible way.

I rated this book three stars because, at times, the material just felt dry, and it felt like I was forcing myself to keep up and read. At other times, I felt like there was a deeper story to the bits of dialog that appeared within the graphics, but without additional context, I had no idea what there was to it. For young readers, I hope that this pushes them to explore and learn more via additional books and materials. For myself, as a busy adult - I will probably just forget these bits and not explore further.

Overall, I appreciated what this book set out to accomplish., and I think others will, too.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a fantastic graphic novel about one of the most historically remembered and important figures in british history to date.
I learnt alot of valuable information from this book about Winston Churchill that i didnt know before.
The book takes us through Winston Churchill's life from childhood and his upbringing through to his military experience and background and experiences during the 1st world war.
This is a great informal book for anyone wanting to learn about this great man in a more inventive and memorable format.