Favourite Moments in Comics #5 - When The Wind Blows

Raymond Briggs modelled the characters of Jim & Hilda, the two pensioners who we follow throughout this story, on his own parents. It must have been particularly difficult, then, to take them down the path he created for them.

Briggs created a funny and terrifying tale of two ordinary people oblivious to the increasing threat of nuclear war. They are confused by contradictory government advice on preparing and surviving a nuclear attack, and exist in a world made more secure by the naive trust in government and repetition of clichés and malapropisms.

The example below comes near the end of the book and features some wonderful examples of Briggs' dialogue: "Another IBM might come over...", "The Powers That Be will get to us in the end..."