Marcel Grob, conscripted member of the Waffen-SS or volunteer? That is the question an investigating judge has to decide while interviewing the 83-year old. What follows his the memories and documents placing him at the scenes of war crimes. The end, like the beginning, is ambiguous as to his fate except that he come to the fate of all men. An interesting tale not often discussed about those forced to serve in World War II whether they wished to or not. It is easy to be be self-righteous after the fact. It is harder to know the proper course when in the midst of the action.

This was a brilliant graphic novel. I just couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting. I think this is a wonderful way to learn about history and true events as you can enjoy the story and see the pictures to really get all your senses tingling. I learnt alot from reading this book especially about what war was like on the Eastern front. I haven't read much on the Eastern front. I had no idea that when Germany occupied parts of France that they forced the men to fight on their side. They were very young aswell. It made for a very shocking read as they even created a special SS regiment for them to go in. This book tells the story of some of these men one of which was Marcel grob. Who is being prosecuted for this unwill role in this regiment. This story was shocking and very emotional. I just couldn't believe how these events unfolded and ended. It was all true and all so wrong. I thought the pictures in this book were amazing with fantastic use of colours that created a brilliant sense of atmosphere and tension. There were in very good detail and flowed well. This story will stay with me forever. I was so emotionally involved in this story. It tells a story that needs to be told and is so very important in history. I loved that at the end of the book it contains a few pages of the history about this time which held some great detail. I really can't recommend this graphic novel enough it just captures you in every way possible and is prefect for anyone 18 and over who loves learning about true crimes in history. This book does contain a few swear words so is not suitable for teenagers. 

Only the highest of praise goes out to the author, illustrator and publishers for telling us this emotional and shocking story in such a wonderful way. This story really needs to be read by everyone. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this fantastic duo.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog yesterday https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-journey-of-marcel-grob-by-philippe-colins-sebastien-goethals-navel-institude-press-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

Thank you to Naval Institute Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Wow! This was an outstanding read. I was glued to the story the entire time. Absolutely fantastic story writing from Philippe Collin and Sébastien Goethals and the by Goethals is wonderful. The story is told in 2 parts. In the modern day (in this case, 2009), an elderly French man is being interviewed by a judge investigating Nazi crimes during WWII and those responsible. He has good reason to believe this man was a member of the German SS and took part in war crimes. The other part of the story is this man's (Marcel Grob) version of the story -- a story of being forced to join the military at no only risk of their deaths for refusing, but the imprisonment or death of their families as well. Collin and Goethals are given a difficult task in being honest about the culpability of someone who did commit atrocities for the Nazis, while also acknowledging that many young men may have been forcefully conscripted and asked to do things they were sickened by. I'll leave the reader to decide the blame these soldiers shall have. But I think the book walks that tightrope well.

This is a graphic novel that works great, if you wan younger people to learn and enjoy history you must use the graphic format. Plus the eleven pages at the end of the book are a great compliment to the story.
It is imperative that in order to not forget these atrocities more books like this be released.
I also made a spanish review of it.

I will always appreciate The US Naval Institute and Dead Reckoning for releasing war comics that offer perspectives that are not widely shown, and especially ones that stay out of the nationalistic propaganda market. You can't get more atypical than a book about a man that unwittingly was forced to become a soldier in the Waffen SS. The moment the book opens with an elderly man named Marcel Grob being hauled into a tribunal under accusations of being a Nazi War criminal, I knew this was going to be dark. On top of that realization, I had no idea how much of a tragedy some of these guys fell into simply due to being enrolled unwittingly into a group of zealots that would do unspeakable things to any soldier (or their family) for literally any reason just to keep order and fear at the forefront. Tattooed with an insignia that was basically a death warrant if captured by any Allied military, Grob was stuck, and unfortunately he had to do some unspeakable things to survive.

Marcel Grob, for all intents and purposes, is French. That said, he happens to be in the disputed territory of Alsace–Lorraine which came under German occupation very early into the war. All able-bodied Alsatian men became part of The German Army in 1942, usually being referred to as malgré-nous (against our will). One would think that these men would end up in the Wehrmacht, as almost every other conscripted German solider, but for some reason many were forced into the SS, being tossed into Panzer and Grenadier divisions. Speaking French was prohibited under German occupation, and learning German was obligatory.

Grob is forced to help carry out the The Massacre of Marzabotto, a horrible incident that saw over 770 innocent men, women, and children perish in Northern Italy. He and others in his group feel horrible for their actions, but Grob somehow gets through the ordeal by thinking of his friendships and his will to survive. Others are not so iron-willed, as Grob bears witness to a handful of his own childhood friends executed in front of him for desertion, as well as other unspeakable atrocities. I won't spoil too much more because the overall narrative is intense and riveting, the sort of story that would make an excellent war movie if they were so inclined.

There is a detailed index in the back of the book with information on various people, places, and events surrounding the story. I found this inclusion VERY helpful.

The Journey of Marcel Grob by Philippe Collin and Sébastien Goethals is a heartbreaking tragedy for nearly everyone involved. It's a tale of doing anything and everything to survive, and the repercussions that arise from that. The minimalist monochromatic artwork is beautiful, and the storytelling is great. If you can get past the grizzly subject matter, this is a book that I highly recommend for history buffs as this part of the war is generally not looked at by many historians. I was worried that this book would slide heavily into the "good Nazi" trope that we often see in many books like this, but it goes to great length to avoid that, even discussing and refuting the "clean Wehrmacht" theory in the appendices. A lot of care was made to tell a story the right way, and avoid glamorizing anything - a fact I appreciate.

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

An elderly man is harangued at some private pre-tribunal evidence gathering, with the only witness being the "Ms Nice Guy" secretary. We soon see the gent is being accused of being a Waffen-SS member, which would insult to its death the man's reputation in his family and his neighbourhood. But luckily his lengthy ID details do not include the "Volunteer" abbreviation, and indeed he was press-ganged as a teenager. But was he?

In fact, when the extended flashbacks of his back story start, he's en route to voluntarily train for the SS, to prevent beef at his family's door. Volunteering for the fire to keep the frying pan cool enough for those he left behind, he gets granted SS status, and is sent to the end game in Italy, where the Nazis and Fascists are using mass slaughter, flame-throwers, grenades thrown into cowering church congregations and anything else suitable to root out partisan guerillas.

And that's all unfortunate, partly because in this "inspired by true events" kind of story, it acts as a climax the entire second half cannot live with. That done, a bit of skill on the football field means he gets taken back from the front to work as a sapper, then he's not, then he... oh it's such an unfortunate pudding, all designed to show the horrors of war and the taking of sides, nationalism etc, but all with too little effect.

The characters are suitable toolbox pieces of equipment to convey a diversity in thinking – some claim to be strictly Alsatian, and yet demand the chance to off the Russkies and Jews for the same reasons as the Nazis. But again this just opens this up into being a right melange of content, in the same way the interrogation is very stagey while the flashbacks are perfectly dynamic, and in the same way the translation of the factual, historical context we close with jumps tense from past to present and back. It's very much the three star read, worthy of checking if this really is your subject, but probably not otherwise.

*Many thanks to Philippe Colin, Sebastien Goethals, Naval Institute Press, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
My first ever graphic novel turned out to be an interesting experience. The subject matter of the book is the past catching up you at the moment least expected. An elderly man who was one little screw in the Nazi Waffen SS machinery is brought to justice after decades.
The visual art is at a high level and my fourth star added for the new experience of mine.

*Thanks to the Naval Institute Press for giving me the ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The Journey of Marcel Grob is an interesting tale based on Marcel Grob's (Philippe Collin's great-uncle) lived experience during WWII. He's one of the hundreds of Alsatian young men who were forcebly conscripted into the Waffen SS in 1944 and like so they had to fight for Germany and be part of the war crimes their superiors ordered them to commit.

While the parts of 83 year old Marcel Grob being interrogated by the Judge Tonelli about his past so his responses be recorded to be sent to the Corte Verita reads quite caricaturesque; Grob's accounts of his time as a Waffen SS are truly engrossing by showing the different type of characters that were part, voluntarily or not, of Nazi's elite army. Some characters are portrayed as full evil, others as victims of propaganda and hate towards the soviets, whereas others are most in the grey area by not being downright criminals but holding an idiology that makes them being part of the SS Death Machine nevertheless. Which makes this a thought-provoking read. Grob himself, although hating his everyday life with the germans, he couldn't help fraternize with one of his Untersturmführers and makes decisions that might put his affiliations in question.

The art by Sebastien Goethals has a classic comic book artstyle that works well. The stylistic choice of coloring the past in sepia is also a great detail that adds a dream-like feeling to Grob's journey, though the real dream might be the interactions between Grob and the Judge.

Overall it was a great read.

P.D. The AGAT Films company made a trailer of this book for the french edition. It's worth watching!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKCFOtPPzHI

I am not sure why this graphic novel is tagged as “manga” since it does not seem to fit that category. In my understanding, manga are Japanese comics that often have a similar art style and symbolism. This is definitely more western in art style, similar to Marvel or DC comics. In fact, that art style sometimes distracts from the story. There are many panels where it appears that the characters have no eyes. I also had a difficult time telling the soldiers apart during the action sequences. The story was interesting, as I gathered immediately that the court hearing taking place had to do with judging the soul of the main character. There was an oddly Christian overtone to the conclusion of the story. It is certainly interesting to learn about the guilt and fate of the soldiers who were forced into Nazi service. In particular, this story would pair well with Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale” in a high school classroom.

"The Malgre-Nous: Men From Alsace and Lorraine Conscripted 'Against Their Will into the "Wehrmacht'." "Alsatians born between 1870 and 1918 were of German nationality, whereas those born before or after that period were of French nationality, at least until 1942."
-Christian Ingrao

Summer 1942
-Compulsory military service began for Alsatians.
-Intimidation tactics were put into place to prevent desertion or disavowal of citizenship.
-Waffen SS "grabs" Alsatian conscripts to fill manpower insufficiencies.

In 2oo9, Monsieur Marcel Grob, now 83 years old, was arrested and brought before examining magistrate, Judge Tonelli. Grob would be questioned, his responses noted, and presented in conjunction with Judge Tonelli's recommendations to the Corte Verita Tribunal. The families of victims of WWII appointed this special court to judge the last Nazi war criminals. What follows is an historical fiction account of one such Waffen SS soldier.

Marzell Grob claimed that he was never Waffen SS. "I spent the whole war at my parents' farm in Alsace. I was fifteen." Not so! Judge Tonelli produced Grob's Military ID indicating that he was a machine fitter [maschinenschlosser] for the Waffen SS. According to the judge, "this booklet is the irrefutable proof of your SS past...Contrary to the Wehrmacht, you had to volunteer to join the Waffen SS." Grob's contention was that a voluntary enlistee would have FRW [Freiwilligen] on his Military ID. His ID was not stamped with this designation.

Over a period of eight hours, Grob recounted, for "the record", his time served in the Waffen SS. "No more speaking French at all, Das ist Verboten!" His blood type was tattooed under his left arm, serving a two-fold purpose. In case of injury, SS got priority. If captured and identified as SS by the Allies, it spelled certain death. The different places Grob was posted were reflected on his SS-Soldbuch, the Military ID. Repatriated after the war, he was receiving a pension from the French Republic as a war invalid. But, had Grob been victimized by the German War Machine? Was he shocked and shaken by what he seemingly was forced to participate in? A refusal to follow orders would have had repercussions meted out to his family.

"The Journey of Marcel Grob" was written by Philippe Collin and Sebastien Goethals. The artwork drawn by Goethals provided graphic scenes of the cost of war with very powerfully, detailed images rendered in sepia. The informative Afterwood by Christian Ingrao, clearly and concisely discussed the History of Nazism. The tome is dedicated "To all the young people of Europe". An excellent, thought provoking read.

Thank you Naval Institute Press, Dead Reckoning and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.