In Maus, Art Spiegelman illustrates his father Vladek’s story—of growing up as a Jew in Poland, persecuted and eventually captured and sent to Auschwitz during WWII. While portraying tragedy, Maus also manages to have a certain amount of beauty and humor, due partly to the various types of characters being rendered as different animals (e.g. Jews are drawn as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, etc.). Whenever Vladek and his wife attempt to pass as Poles, they are charmingly drawn wearing pig masks. The scenes portraying Art’s relationship with his father are touching and feel very authentic. I’m looking forward to reading Maus II.

Excellent, sad, funny, moving, and humane. I’ll write a full review once I finish the second volume.