So begins one of the most compelling first-person narratives from the Second World War, Miné Okubo's graphic novel, Citizen 13660 (1946). As quoted, however, this is an incomplete beginning. The words do not exist on their own but rather accompany a black-and-white comic-strip-style picture of a crowded train station (fig. 1). Newspapers are everywhere, nearly one for every person. The people stand with hunched shoulders, their noses inches from the newsprint as though they are reading with concern. Among the crowd, three specific faces, two men and one woman, look at something other than the news. The men, one on the left margin and one in the top right corner, look at the woman who stands facing the viewer left of center. She seems to react not only to the news but to the emotional state of those around her. In clear anxiety, she clutches her purse tightly...

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