Jacques Tardi's searing examination of the horrors of World War I, C'etait la Guerre de Tranchees was named the 'Best Graphic Novel of All Time' in a poll conducted by the Dutch visual culture magazine ZozoLala, which is distributed free to customers by most Dutch and Flemish comic book retailers.  Although no manga titles made the top ten in this list of the 150 best graphic novels (which coincided with the 150th issue of ZozoLala), there is a definite international flavor to the list and no one can accuse the sophisticated Dutch readers with being 'homers' and voting Dutch books into the top spots. 

It's also hard to quibble with the selection of Tardi's unrelenting black-and-white rendering of the nightmare of World War I, which has to be the most gruesome and horrific conflict in history when viewed from the vantage point of the conscripts who were crammed into muddy, vermin-filled trenches and forced to endure near constant shelling, poison gas attacks, and suicidal assaults across no-man's land.

Four graphic novels from U.S. publishers made the top ten including Art Spiegelman's Maus at #2, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen at #5, Craig Thompson's Blankets at #6, and Will Eisner's A Contract With God was at #8.  Here is the complete top ten.

            1.  C'etait la guerre de tranchees -- Jacques Tardi

            2.  Maus -- Art Spiegelman

            3.  Blake & Mortimer: La Marque Jaune -- Edgar P. Jacobs

            4.  Le Grand Pouvoir de Chninkel -- Van Hamme & Rozinski

            5.  Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

            6.  Blankets -- Craig Thompson

            7.  Silence -- Dieter Comes

            8.  A Contract With God -- Will Eisner

            9.  Sambre: Plus ne m'est rien -- Bernard Yslaire

            10.The Incal -- Moebius & Jodorowsky