Willie and Joe

Bill Mauldin Originally written for the 45th Infantry Division's paper, the comic was eventually picked up by Stars and Stripes after the division was sent to Europe to fight in World War II. Mauldin was eventually moved to full-time staff at the magazine, and was given a Jeep to tour the front and make comics about his experiences.

After the end of the war, the comics were collected in the best-selling Up Front, and Mauldin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. He turned to political cartoons, but was forced by popular demand to return to the Willie and Joe characters, placing them back home trying to readjust to civilian life. From then on, the characters were occasionally revisited during the Korean and Vietnam war, with the final comic coming in 1998 at the request of Charles Schultz, published in Peanuts for Veteran's Day.


 * Biting the Hand Humor: Military regulations were often parodies, particularly the insistence on spit-shine uniform cleanliness for soldiers fighting in the trenches.
 * Mooks: The comics focus squarely on the "dogfaces" of the army.