cover image The Antifa Comic Book: 100 Years of Fascism and Antifa Movements

The Antifa Comic Book: 100 Years of Fascism and Antifa Movements

Gord Hill. Arsenal Pulp, $17.95 (128p) ISBN 978-1-55152-733-8

In this disappointing series of straightforward historical comics, indigenous Canadian artist and author Hill documents the often-overlooked stories of violent antifascist resistance, from the early-20th-century Italian Arditi to modern-day antifa. Nazi punching has a long history in comics (Captain America debuted by socking Hitler in the face), and Hill’s drawings of movements around the world recall that tradition while highlighting a diverse array of underdogs who fight for equality. The comics are well-researched, but sprinting through a wide range of histories without any thesis, narrative, or central characters makes the book feel unfortunately like an illustrated Wikipedia entry. It’s not clear why Hill includes these particular histories and not others, but in the text introduction, historian Mark Bray offers some glue to bind the collection together: People wrongly believe that fascism is “dead and gone,” he writes, and that belief “hides the migrants, punks, Autonomen, football hooligans, unionists, skinheads, guerrillas, and others who have fought fascism since 1945 and still fight it today.” Hill’s clean, simple linework fills the full-color pages with detailed scenes that clearly show the depth of his historical research into not only the social movements but their preferred outfits and weaponry as well. In this collection, readers get a peek at many of these fascism fighters but are left without knowing any of them in depth. (Nov.)