History ComicStrip / WillieAndJoe

* BritishStuffiness: Appears in full fig in a comic where a fastidious Tommy, busy cleaning his [[CoolGuns Lee-Enfield]], snarks to Willie and Joe that "you blokes leave an awfully messy battlefield." This was TruthInTelevision, as America's ridiculous manufacturing base allowed US troops to expend war materiel at a rate that UK troops could merely envy.

* CaptainObvious: A comic wherein [[http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2009/11/25/2485794/06041002.JPG Willie suggests that Joe might need a rest]] - because he's talking in his sleep(walking). [[note]]This was actually a skill many G.I.'s picked up during the European campaign, being able to keep marching in formation while asleep. The speed and regularity of the German retreats meant they often couldn't settle down and sleep properly, so they were forced to adapt.[[/note]]

** [[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OtMUi6twBxZQGXwXleOGM8A4rIVPJMBj0QxytvDrkXrSYf6JIJLIOG1c_x6qVgH2C9GHLaaRzZJTepvEhQMO6jQ9iySsaTKH85GfAfGrUg8O This comic]] takes a swipe at Gen. Douglas Macarthur, for his perceived egotism and GloryHound tendencies.

** It's a running theme and joke that being on the frontlines ensures you're not going to be able to keep very clean. Sometimes, [[http://www.thecommunitypaper.com/archive/2010/06_17/images/cartoon-bathing.jpg even when you're trying to be]].

A series of single-panel comics, created by Creator/BillMauldin, which humorously depicts the travails of the eponymous duo of front-line infantrymen as they slog through the foxholes of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Europe. First created for the 45th Infantry Division's newspaper as Mauldin and his fellow grunts endured basic training stateside, the comic was picked up by ''Stars and Stripes'' after the division was sent to Italy. Its creator was eventually moved to full-time staff at the latter paper, and was given a Jeep to tour the front and make comics about his experiences. During its run, which was also syndicated by United Features to hundreds of newspapers back home, the series was both lauded and reviled for its unstinting depiction of actual life at the front, as opposed to the sanitized, rah-rah boosterism that was published in most official channels.

After the end of the war, the comics were collected in the best-selling memoir ''Up Front,'' and Mauldin became the youngest man in history to be awarded a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize. He turned to political cartoons, but was forced by popular demand to return to the Willie and Joe characters, placing them back home and showing them trying to readjust to civilian life. From then on, the characters were occasionally revisited (as during the wars in [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korean]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]]), and were even borrowed in 1998 by Creator/CharlesMSchulz, who used them in a ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Veteran's Day strip that year. They even got a ShoutOut from the modern webcomic ''WebComic/DeltaBravoSierra,'' with a US Army platoon in Iraq (all of them anthropomorphic dogs) shown taking fire and counterattacking, and the next frame [[http://deltabravosierra.com/comic/may-13-2009/ revealing Willie and Joe among the soldiers, grumbling that they've been in the Army too long because "I swear them dawgs a'barkin' orders now."]]

** Mauldin was called on the carpet by General Patton because soldiers were imitating his characters' undisciplined appearance--or more accurately, the appearance of the characters was a realistic depiction of what men living in muddy foxholes in a war zone were going to look like. This was right after a strip that openly mocked Patton's strict dress code[[note]] The eponymous [=GIs=], dirty and disheveled as ever and driving a jeep held together with duct tape, drive up to a road sign saying they are entering Third Army's area of operations. On the same post is another sign listing that dress code and promising fines for each specific violation. Willie tells Joe to "Radio the Old Man an' let him know we're gonna be late on account of a thousand-mile detour."[[/note]]. He was rescued by UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, who [[AFatherToHisMen felt that the comics' effect on morale]] - that it gave the troops a means to vent - was more important. Besides, Ike thought it was ActuallyPrettyFunny!

* {{Crossover}}: In 1998, Willie and Joe showed up one final time in a ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} strip commenting on how short Snoopy (in his guise as a World War I soldier) was.

A series of one-panel comics, created by Creator/BillMauldin, which humorously depicts the travails of the eponymous duo of front-line infantrymen as they slog through the foxholes of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Europe. Originally written for the 45th Infantry Division's paper as Mauldin and his fellow grunts endured basic training stateside, the comic was picked up by ''Stars and Stripes'' after the division was sent to Europe. Its creator 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. During its run, the series was lauded (and reviled) for its unstinting depiction of actual life at the front, as opposed to the sanitized rah-rah boosterism that was published in most official channels.

After the end of the war, the comics were collected in the best-selling memoir ''Up Front,'' and Mauldin became the youngest man in history to be awarded a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize. He turned to political cartoons, but was forced by popular demand to return to the Willie and Joe characters, placing them back home and trying to readjust to civilian life. From then on, the characters were occasionally revisited during the [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korean]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]] wars, and were even borrowed in 1998 by Creator/CharlesMSchulz, who used them in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' for Veteran's Day that year. They even got a ShoutOut from the modern webcomic ''WebComic/DeltaBravoSierra,'' with a US Army platoon in Iraq (all of them anthropomorphic dogs) taking fire and counterattacking, with the next frame [[http://deltabravosierra.com/comic/may-13-2009/ revealing Willie and Joe among the Soldiers, grumbling that they've been in the Army too long because "I swear them dawgs a'barkin' orders now."]]

After the end of the war, the comics were collected in the best-selling ''Up Front,'' and Mauldin became the youngest man in history to be 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 ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' for Veteran's Day. They even got a ShoutOut from the modern webcomic ''WebComic/DeltaBravoSierra,'' with a US Army platoon in Iraq (all of them anthropomorphic dogs) taking fire and counterattacking, with the next frame [[http://deltabravosierra.com/comic/may-13-2009/ revealing Willie and Joe among the Soldiers, grumbling that they've been in the Army too long because "I swear them dawgs a'barkin' orders now."]]

In 2008 Fantagraphics put out a two-volume work that attempted to definitively collect all of Mauldin's strips from the WWII era, but the originals were put out under such hectic conditions that some are probably lost forever.

* ThousandYardStare: Underplayed, but it's there.

* SoldiersAtTheRear: A common target of dogface resentment, especially when they lay claim to quarters and amenities in liberated towns. Slightly closer to the front skulks a strange hybrid: "We call 'em garritroopers. They're too far forward t'wear ties, an' too far back t'get shot."

* ThePigPen: It's a running theme and joke that being on the frontlines ensures you're not going to be able to keep very clean. Sometimes, [[http://www.thecommunitypaper.com/archive/2010/06_17/images/cartoon-bathing.jpg even when you're trying to be]].

* MildlyMilitary: Essentially a real-life example. The front-line troops often became ''very'' lax about cleanliness/grooming regulations, as well as discipline, which wasn't surprising considering what passed for living conditions at the front[[note]] A foxhole is literally a hole dug in the ground. While it protects the occupants from bullets and shrapnel, it's still just a hole in the ground, and the near-stalemate of the Italian campaign meant that you might stay in that same foxhole for ''weeks'' without a break. Creator/AudieMurphy wrote in his war memoir that it was a good thing the M1 helmet was a two-piece item (lightweight steel inner liner with the suspension inserted into the thicker steel outer armor shell), because a man who needed to defecate while pinned down under fire could remove the helmet's outer shell, take a crap in it, then fling said fecal matter out of his foxhole (preferably towards the Germans), make whatever attempt he could to clean out the armor shell, then put it back on over his helmet liner. So the average frontline GI would have to use ''the helmet on his head'' as an improvised toilet. Add that to mud, dust, and nazis with artillery and automatic weapons trying to kill you. Frontline troops were ''filthy'' and had no choice in the matter. Expecting them to wear ties (properly-knotted at that) in those conditions was truly absurd[[/note]]. The classic (though slightly subtle) example is Willie and Joe playing cards with their CO, who looks as rough as they do, asking him "By the way sir, what wuz them changes you wuz going to make when you took over last month?"

* NewMeat: New guys occasionally turn up at the front with strange attitudes, including one who complains that he's been in the Army two days and hasn't been shot at. The Army's system of [[CannonFodder "replacements"]] and the often short life of the poor souls brought in to fill out depleted units was also grimly mocked, such as Joe recommending a heavy-set recruit as he's "...packed wit' vitamins."

-->'''Willie''': Joe, yesterday ya saved my life and I swore, I'd pay ya back. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Here's my last pair of dry socks]].[[note]]Front-line supplies in the European theater was spotty at best (and [[UpToEleven other armies had it even worse!]]), and winter clothes were not given a higher priority. As a result, dry socks became the most coveted commodity during the winter fighting. Even summertime was not immune to this, due to the ever-present mud (caused by a combination of paved roads being relatively rare at the time, and the tendency of the landscape - paved or not - to get chewed up by artillery). It wasn't [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne Trench Foot]], but it was close.[[/note]]

In 2008 Fantagraphics put out a two-volume work that attempted to definitively collect all of Mauldin's strips from the WWII era, but the originals were put out under [[{{Understatement}} such hectic conditions]] that some are probably lost forever.

* SouthernFriedPrivate: Willie (originally Joe) was described as "...a Chocktaw Indian with a hook nose and a smart mouth", which would peg him as hailing from around Louisiana, Alabama or Georgia.