Jake Tapper: Graphic Novel Historian
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TV anchor/journalist and part time cartoonist Jake Tapper has turned into a graphic novel historian with The Butcher: The Decades-Long Hunt for Klaus Barbie, One of the World’s Most Notorious Killers as the writer and artist of the true story the Barbie escape and the Nazi hunters who tracked him down.
“LOS ANGELES, CA (October 21, 2026) — Stepping away from the newsroom to the creator’s chair, award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author, Jake Tapper, tackles the hunt for one of the most terrifying war criminals of the 20th century with his debut graphic novel, The Butcher: The Decades-Long Hunt for Klaus Barbie, One of the World’s Most Notorious Killers, publishing June 1, 2027 via Top Shelf Productions. The Butcher is the compelling true story of Klaus Barbie, the mass murderer who escaped justice and thrived for decades, the Nazi hunters and journalists who tracked him down, and the shocking investigation that revealed who helped him escape to begin with.”
“’This has been one of the most difficult and rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on — both in terms of the research into the astounding and troubling life of one of the world’s most notorious and elusive Nazi war criminals, the effort to turn that into compelling storytelling, and the work to illustrate it all,’ says writer and illustrator Jake Tapper. ‘I hope readers find it as satisfying to read.'”
That Variety article/interview by Brian Steinberg mentioned in the Top Shelf promo page quotes Tapper:
“He’s had a lot of time to work on ‘The Butcher.’ Tapper, who says he draws less frequently now, has been tough on himself. ‘After I finished the 250th page, I went back and redrew 100 pages because I’m like, those are awful. And I need to redraw them.’ The recent practice has helped him regain some of his skill, he says, but ‘I’m still going back and tweaking.’”
The AV Club report claims the book “represents the last three years of his off-camera work.”
So last year when he was joking with Seth Meyers about “maybe you and I will be drawing comic books together” he was already deep into drawing a comic book/graphic novel.
Top Shelf has a preorder page up for the June 2027 release – the Amazon and Barnes & Noble links have more sample pages
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