The similarities between Kurt Vonnegut and Art Spiegelman's father are many: both took part in humanity's most destructive war, a world-changing event that defined history. Both fought on the battlefield, one as an American soldier and one as a Polish soldier. Both fought the Nazis. Both were then taken prisoner by the Nazis, which was physically and mentally brutal and intense.
When comparing the literary works, however, significant differences change the "weight" and context of the pieces. Maus is an incredibly powerful graphic representation of a story told from father to son, in what seems to be an organized and deliberate manner. The father is presenting his story in story format, with the intent of it being recorded.
Slaughterhouse-Five, on the other hand, is told directly by a man who went through the experience of the firebombing of Dresden. It's not told directly: it's expressed through a character of Billy Pilgrim, but this character is a direct mental construct of a survivor of the firebombing. Sometimes it's confusing to follow.
Maus is relatively far easier to follow, event-wise, but in some ways so much harder. Vonnegut was a soldier fighting other soldiers - he became a POW. Vladek was just a regular man. While initially he was a soldier and fought, after he left the initial POW camp his persecution came solely from his status as a Jew. He was just a citizen of a country with a family and business and marriage and children to think of and love. Yet a climate of hate and intolerance appeared around him, infiltrated every part of his life, and eventually tore it apart. I believe the story of Maus will strongly involve how this father has changed his son, and how the relationship between them functions. We can tell it's influenced him strongly. In the first encounter between father and son we see, the father scoffs at his son's use of the word friend: "If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week...then you could see what is friends!.."
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