Grandmothers, Our Grandmothers: Remembering the “Comfort Women” of World War II

“War does not end on the battlefields,” writes historian Seong-won in this moving and urgent collection of comics profiles of women kidnapped into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII. Based on Seong-won’s interviews, the volume sensitively depicts the activism of these “comfort women,” as they’re officially known in Korea, and their participation in the “longest running single protest in the world,” which began in 1992 and which calls for an apology from the Japanese government. These women—who are not only Korean but also Chinese, Norwegian, and from other countries Japan invaded—were stigmatized for talking about what they endured. Some were not able to return to their homes, marry, or have children after liberation. Seong-won focuses not on the brutalities but instead the bravery of these activists “of iron will”—and moments of healing (one grandmother is shown dramatically singing into a mic, “her terrible trauma soothed by the verses of a song”). Mixing vivid, colorful snapshot portraits with stripped-down black-and-white comics, the simply rendered testimonials are forceful. Recalling Keum Seuk Gendry-Kim’s Grass, this acts both as homage and witness, and as inspiration for new generations to speak out against stigma and silence. (Aug.)