Nick Cardy's 'The Artist at War'

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Nick Cardy 1

Before he earned fame as the comic book artist who drew covers for Aquaman and Teen Titans in the '60s and early '70s, Nick Cardy served in WWII as an assistant tank driver in the Third Armored Division and was awarded two Purple Hearts.

The new book The Artist at War compiles a collection of sketches that Cardy made during his service in the European theater. "I carried a 3" x 5" spiral bound drawing pads in my duffel bag and a watercolor set and a larger pad. Whatever I could fit in there. As I went along for those three years I sketched and did watercolors."

The 125-page book features the entire contents of the artist's wartime sketchbook: dozens of drawings and paintings that give a kind of real-time diary of Cardy's war experiences. His eye for the scene is so keen that you wish he'd shown the drawings earlier and found another career as a motion picture production designer.

The presentation is spectacular, from the layout to the binding. This book is genuinely one of the best things we've ever reviewed on the site and would make a great gift for anyone interested in World War II. Check out the slideshow below for more images from the book.

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