“Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour” Kickstarter Is Now Live

Her name was Iva Toguri. To many, that name will not ring a bell right away, but to others she is known historically as the infamous Tokyo Rose.

The story of Tokyo Rose is a fascinating one.  Born on July 4th, 1916, Iva Toguri was the daughter of Japanese immigrants in Los Angeles.  She spent her youth as a Girl Scout, playing on her high school tennis team, and later graduating with a degree in zoology from UCLA.  In 1941, her parents sent her to Japan to help care for an ailing aunt.

She was a stranger in a strange land, and quickly grew terribly homesick, but her problems only mounted in December of 1941 when a problem with paperwork denied her a spot on a ship home.  Days later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  With the United States and Japan at war, Toguri found herself trapped in a country that she barely knew.

When the kempeitai (Japanese Military Police) showed up at her Aunt’s home, asking for her to denounce her American citizenship, Iva proudly refused.  This found Iva struggling to survive on the streets of Tokyo, labeled an “enemy of the people.”  Before long though, Iva’s survival led her down the path to becoming one of the most infamous and nefarious characters in the South Pacific: Tokyo Rose.

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour, is a proposed graphic novel project from Andre R. Frattino, creator of “Simon Says: Nazi Hunter” (due out through Image Comics September 2019), that aims to tell the little-known story of an American woman struggling against all odds to survive in two worlds that consider her the enemy.

Frattino is teaming up with artist Kate Kasenow, who is fresh off her latest project, “Form of a Question,” the graphic memoir of Andrew J. Rostan surrounding his experience on JEOPARDY! (Now available from BOOM! Studios)

Frattino and Kasenow, working with Atheris Publishing, are looking to raise $7,500 on Kickstarter to actualize Iva Toguri’s story in a 75-page graphic novel they hope to have out by July of next year.

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour is live on Kickstarter through May 2nd.

(Photos courtesy of Sphinx PR)

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