Tokyo Rose - Zero Hour (a Graphic Novel)
Description
**Recommended by The New York Public Library as one of its 50 best comics for adults**
**A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection**
Traitor or hero? Discover the truth behind the legendary Tokyo Rose.
Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour tells the true story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese American woman who was visiting her relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Trapped in Japan, Iva refused to renounce her American citizenship. But she was forced to take a job with Radio Tokyo to host "Zero Hour," a propaganda broadcast aimed at demoralizing American troops--in the role of the infamous Tokyo Rose, "The Siren of the Pacific."
The dramatic events recounted in this story include:
- Iva's arrest by the Americans, who eventually found that her actions were blameless
- Her emotional return to the United States and the racially-motivated public outcry that led to her re-arrest and prosecution for treason
- The dishonest actions of prosecutors who coerced witnesses into providing false evidence against her
- The six years she spent in prison, and her eventual pardon by President Ford in 1977
Written by Andre Frattino and illustrated by Kate Kasenow, Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour has an introduction explaining the "Tokyo Rose" phenomenon and the devastating effects of World War II on Asian-American communities that continue to reverberate. In a world rife with misinformation and racial prejudice, the story of Tokyo Rose has never been more relevant.
Product Details
| Publisher | Tuttle Publishing |
| Publish Date | September 20, 2022 |
| Pages | 128 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9784805316955 |
| Dimensions | 10.1 X 7.1 X 0.7 inches | 1.3 pounds |
About the Author
Kate Kasenow is a comic artist with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Sequential Art from Savannah College of Art and Design. She has worked on an array of graphic novels including An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, Amy Devlin Mystery and Form of a Question, a creative autobiography of a Jeopardy champion.
Janice Chiang is an award-winning comic letterer with over four decades of experience. She began her career as a freelancer for Marvel Comics and has continued on to work for all the major comic book publishers. Her most iconic work was for the comic book series, Ghost Rider where she designed the main character's flaming word balloons. Presently, she heads the lettering department for John and Sandy King Carpenter's Storm King Comics and is a freelancer for DC Comics.
Reviews
"This graphic novel brings her little-known story to vivid life, highlighting some of the uncertainty, fear, moral dilemmas, and persecution Asian Americans felt during World War II. It's a nice complement to George Takei's graphic novel They Called Us Enemy." --Booklist
"...Tokyo Rose - Zero Hour might be one of the most important pieces of work that you're likely to read anytime soon." --ThePullBox.com
"...a moving portrait of Iva's personal life and wartime experiences. --Forbes
"A fascinating biography, Iva Toguri's story is equal parts gripping and thought-provoking. The creative team expertly explores the real woman behind the mythical Tokyo Rose." -- Steven Scott, co-author of New York Times Bestselling They Called Us Enemy
"A firecracker of a subject helps propel this graphic biography of Iva Toguri D'Aquino and her incredible double life as "Tokyo Rose" (...) a well-researched history of an unjustly maligned woman and a crackling espionage adventure story, to boot." -- Publishers Weekly
"An unflinching, eye-opening account on one of the 20th century's most misunderstood figures." -- David Lewis, editorial board member for the International Journal of Comic Art
"The team behind Tokyo Rose put in the effort and hard work to ensure their graphic novel would be a force for good at time when the world sorely needs it. I honestly hope that everyone who works in any creative medium will learn from their example -- and from the bad and hurtful decisions made in the past. -- Eileen Gonzalez, BookRiot
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