Moers, Walter 1957-

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MOERS, Walter 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born 1957.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hamburg, Germany. Agent—c/o The Random House Group, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SWIV 2SA, England.

CAREER:

Cartoonist, writer, painter, and sculptor.

WRITINGS:

ILLUSTRATOR

Adolf, the Nazi Pig, Eichborn (Frankfurt, Germany), 1999.

Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär, Eichborn (Frankfurt, Germany), 1999, translation by John Brownjohn published as The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, Vintage UK (London, England), 2003.

A Wild Ride through the Night, Stecker & Warburg (London, England), 2003.

Author and illustrator of numerous comic books sold in Germany, including Little Arsehole.

ADAPTATIONS:

Characters and stories have been adapted for German television.

SIDELIGHTS:

Known for his farcical and often tasteless comics, German artist Walter Moers has been condemned by the Catholic Church for obscenity but is nonetheless immensely popular in Germany. Moers has also had English versions of his illustrated novels made available in the United States and Great Britain. His lengthy comic book about Adolf Hitler in modern times has garnered widespread attention, including recognition by several prestigious German publications that previously ignored the author's work as childish. The author's illustrated book about his immensely popular character Captain Bluebear is also available in English.

In Adolf, the Nazi Pig, Moers tells the story of Hitler surviving World War II and resurfacing in modern times. Hitler consults a mysterious psychiatrist, who at one point recommends as therapy that he start another war. He is also bewildered by modern advertising selling everything from McDonald's hamburgers to kosher food. Moers also has the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring surviving the war only to become an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Göring's "hits" included President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, until changing attitudes within the government halted his work for the CIA. Hitler and Göring meet, and Göring helps get Hitler hooked on crack cocaine. Other characters include the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and Mother Theresa, as well as aliens.

"In Adolf, Hitler is a pathetic figure and not even the most bone-headed neo-Nazi could find anything inspirational in the cartoons," wrote Roger Boyes in the London Times. "The book is offensive, full of smut and silliness, but that is largely the point." Writing in Time International, contributor Ursula Sautter noted, "At its best, the book is funny because of Moers' mini-malistic style of caricature, the crazy plot, and the protagonist's idiosyncratic way of talking." The reviewer went on to note, "But the hitch is this: Adolf, the Nazi Pig is a farce—and nothing but. It never manages to do what the satirical comic art form should do." Although the work has been compared to Maus, am award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, many see little resemblance. Michel Friedmann of the Central Council of German Jewry was quoted by Boyes as saying, "It is difficult to call this work politically incorrect, if you accept the premise that Hitler can be a subject of satire in the manner of Art Spiegelman's Maus, raising a bitter laugh but also leaving something stuck in the throat."

Another issue surrounding the publication of Adolf, the Nazi Pig is the idea that there is a growing movement among the current German generation to address the taboos of World War II in an unconventional and satirical manner. However, many questioned whether it is right for Germans to make fun of Hitler. Moers was quoted in the London Times as saying he saw a Japanese Hitler comic book and believed that if they could satirize Hitler and the war, so could he. He is also quoted by Sautter in Time International as writing in the book's preface, "In reality I made this book because Adolf Hitler is so easy to draw." To prove his point, Moer shows the six basic parts of Hitler's face and urges readers to try drawing Hitler themselves. The book's popularity in Germany quickly led to three printings.

In The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear Moers treads much safer ground in an epic tale of his immensely popular character that originated as a puppet on German television. The seventy-plus-page illustrated book tells the story of how Captain Bluebear expends thirteen-and-a-half of the twenty-seven lives he is allotted, as are all Bluebears. Rescued by Minipirates who find him floating in a walnut shell on the ocean, his subsequent adventures include being marooned on an island and travelling to exotic places. Throughout his adventure, Bluebear is aided by a copy of Professor Nightingale's Encylopaedia, a graduation gift from the professor's school. Moers combines a liberal use of childish humor with a narrative full of surprises, such as Captain Bluebear's travels into the past and future.

Writing in the London Independent, Martin Chalmers noted that the book is "inexplicably marketed" for an adult audience, although it is clearly a children's book. He commented that while this may have worked in Germany, where many grew up as enormous fans of Captain Bluebear, it is less likely to be a good marketing strategy in either England or the United States. Nevertheless, Chalmers called the book "fun" and noted, "There are plenty of occasions here for kids to cry out: 'Yeuch!'" He also noted that it was a good book to skim through because of the illustrations. In the London Daily Telegraph Bronwen Riley noted that, "Part science fiction, part fairy tale, part myth, part epic, the book is a satire on all these genres and constantly satirises itself." Riley also noted that he found the Bluebear character to often be "smug" but added, "Yet, within the first 15 pages I was carried away by the sheer craziness of it all."