Review: Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour
When I was in the Navy, every time we would cross the Suez Canal the craziest radio message would come across the line. There was something called “the Filipino Money”, a character meant to provide some comic relief in what would normally be a monotonous job. The first few times we would hear it, it was funny. The next few times, not so much, as it dawned on me it was a racist mocking of the way Filipinos talked.
Back then, when you were the only one, it’s difficult to speak up when you think it was wrong. In many cases it still is difficult. As history will tell us, the purpose of these type of voiceovers is psychological warfare meant to deter enemy combatants. Vietnam War veterans remember Vietcong radio imploring soldiers to put down their weapons, In Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour, we get the true story of one of the most famous of these real life characters.
We open up on the trial of Iva Toguri, who is infamously known as the Tokyo Rose, as she begin tried for treason but her story is much more complicated. We are taken back 8 years earlier to July 5, 1941 where Iva and her family are taking a ship to visit relatives in Japan, on what was meant to be a family trip back to her parents home., where she would stay with relatives for four months, but right when she thinks coming home would be easy, she finds out how much red tape is involved. As she waits for the paperwork to go through, it so happens that the massacre at Pearl Harbor happens, she gets recruited by the Japanese government’s thought police to join their ranks while her family back home in America gets put in internment camps. Meanwhile, Iva is forced to give up her American citizenship and join a news program called “Zero Hour”, which would use “Niseis” like her. The show is run by 2 prisoners of war, Major Cousens and Lt. Reyes, who use the broadcast show to subvert the message the Japanese military wanted to send to Allied troops . Eventually, their plan was found by a Master Sergeant, right after Major Cousens suffers a heart attack but fortune favors them, as the US Troops begin their occupation of Japan, giving those who have been oppressed like Iva, hope. A newspaper even wants to interview her and promises to pay for it, but when the editor refused to do because of antiwar sentiment, they concoct a plan to get her arrested for treason and put on trial. As the US Attorney tries to prove that she was the Tokyo Rose, they bring in bought and paid witnesses ,which is good thing Lt Reyes, who is now her husband and Major Cousens show up to testify on her behalf. She would be eventually have all 8 acts of treason dismissed with the exception of her doing the job she had been hired for, where she would serve 10 years in jail for it. By the graphic novel’s end, we catch up with Iva 57 years later in Chicago where president Ford finally gives her a well deserved pardon.
Overall, Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour is a heartbreaking story of one woman whose agency was taken away by two countries she called home, only to find a small semblance of justice many years later. The story by Frattino is harrowing. The art by the creative team is gorgeous. Altogether, a wartime legend whose story finally gets told in the light it deserves.
Story: Andre Frattino Art: Kate Kasenow
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy
Tuttle Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
