Photos: Joe Sacco’s ‘The Great War’ as a Paris subway mural

Joe Sacco’s massive cartoon mural “The Great War,” which depicts the first day of the World War I 1916 Battle of the Somme, stretches along the wall of the Montparnasse Metro station in Paris. (Francois Mori / Associated Press)

July 3, 2014 12:45 PM PT

July 1 marked the 98th anniversary of the first day of World War I’s Battle of the Somme, and to mark the occasion, Joe Sacco’s magnificent single panel panorama “The Great War” has become a mural in the Montparnasse station of the Paris Metro.

The 500-foot mural was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, a medieval work that displays the Norman conquest. “The Great War” is on display to mark the 100th anniversary of World War I. (Bertrand Guay / AFP/Getty Images)

Cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco poses at the Thiepval World War I Memorial in northern France. In addition to World War I, Sacco’s work has also portrayed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Bosnian conflict. (Philippe Huguen / AFP/Getty Images)

Sacco wanted the mural to be massive in size to reflect the staggering losses of the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in history. (Francois Mori / Associated Press)

The mural begins with British commander Douglas Haig walking in his garden and ends with the wounded and the slain. Here, soldiers can be seen walking in the signature trenches of World War I’s attrition warfare. (Francois Mori / Associated Press)

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