When the Wind Blows (comics)

When the Wind Blows is a 1982 graphic novel, by British artist Raymond Briggs, that shows a nuclear attack on Britain by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, Jim and Hilda Bloggs. The book was later made into an animated film.

The book follows the story of the Bloggs, characters previously seen in the book Gentleman Jim. One afternoon, the couple hears a message on the radio about an "outbreak of hostilities" in three days' time. Jim immediately starts construction of a fallout shelter (in accordance with a government-issued Protect and Survive brochure), while the two reminisce about the Second World War. Their reminiscences are used both for comic effect and to show how the geopolitical situation has changed, but also how nostalgia has blotted out the horrors of war. A constant theme is Jim's optimistic outlook and his unshakeable belief that the government knows what's best and that it has the situation under full control, coupled with Hilda's attempts to carry on life as normal.

During their preparations the action is interrupted by two page dark illustrations. With the first being a nuclear missile on a launch pad, labeled "MEANWHILE, ON A DISTANT PLAIN...." The second a squadron of Warthogs, labeled "MEANWHILE, IN THE DISTANT SKY...." And third a nuclear submarine labeled "MEANWHILE, IN A DISTANT OCEAN...."

The Bloggs soon hear of enemy missiles heading towards England and make it into their shelter before a nuclear explosion. They spend all the first day within the fallout shelter, but leave the shelter on the second day and move about the house, exposing themselves to the radioactive fallout. Undaunted, they try to continue life as normal, as if it was the Second World War again. They find the house to be in shambles, with both the water and the electricity cut off. On the third day, misreading advice given in government leaflets of having to stay in the fallout shelter for two days instead of two weeks, they go outside, exposing themselves to a huge amount of radioactive fallout. While outside, they notice the smell of cooking meat, unaware that it is the burning corpses of their neighbours.

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Wikipedia