DRAWING ON HISTORY

ROBERT VENDITTI, 45, is the bestselling author of popular comics series including The Surrogates, Hawkman, Freedom Fighters, and many others. He ventures into a fact-based tale with his latest work, Six Days: The Incredible True Story of D-Day’s Lost Chapter—cowritten with Kevin Maurer, with art by Andrea Mutti—which tells the story of American paratroopers badly misdropped on D-Day who fought in the June 10-12, 1944, Battle of Graignes alongside French civilians. Venditti’s great-uncle, Thomas J. Travers, died in the fight. Six Days was released by publisher DC Vertigo in mid-May to coincide with D-Day’s 75th anniversary. For this interview, we paired Venditti with a graphic memoirist whose recent work, Flying Couch, also sprang from a personal tie to the war.

You’ve set many stories in fantasy worlds. What made you want to tell this realistic story?

This is my first nonfiction project, and it came about in a strange