ShareThisIt is said that Garth Ennis is the best writer of World War II stories in the comics biz today, and "Battlefields" ($29.99, Dynamite Entertainment) is convincing evidence of that.
"Battlefields" is a collection of three unrelated WWII miniseries, involving female Russians flying obsolete biplane bombers ("Night Witches"), a traumatized British nurse who survived Japanese occupation ("Dear Billy") and a British tank crew in Normandy ("Tankies"). Each is based on historical events, as Ennis has done his homework (described in an afterword, along with a bibliography).
They also describe the horror of war appallingly well in carefully crafted stories with real emotional weight. "Dear Billy" in particular could bring tears from the coldest heart, while never depicting or even discussing the brutal act at its heart. And you'll get to know several members of the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment in "Night Witches," as well as some of their foes in the German Wehrmacht, which makes their eventual fates all the more poignant.
Even my wife, no fan of war stories, enjoyed "Battlefields." Possibly that was due to the strong female presence in the first two stories, a gender usually absent in war comics entirely. But I like to think she enjoyed them for the same reason I did, which is that they kept me riveted throughout, and troubled me long after I'd read them.
"Battlefields" is a continuation of Ennis' "War Story" for Vertigo, which has two collections available. I don't remember those stories as vividly, which could mean I was unprepared for Ennis' insight when they were published. Or it could mean he's on a learning curve, meaning the best is yet to come.
Elsewhere:
-- Pop culture is awash in zombie stories, so it's easy to write off "Awakening" ($19.95, Archaia Press) as just a trendy book. That would be a mistake.
As much as I enjoy some "mainstream zombie" books (if that's even a genre) like Image's "Walking Dead," I have no problem with the unique version of cannibals we meet here. Writer Nick Tapalansky gives us something in between the mindless, shambling brain-eaters of George Romero and the "fast zombies" of "28 Days Later." This variety goes for stomachs rather than brains and seems to be a little smarter. Plus they don't infect, and have mutated into a form that is highly resistant to injury.
Also, "Awakening" is at heart a hard-boiled noir detective mystery. While retaining much of the horror of a good zombie attack, the story focuses on private eye Derrick Peters, who must solve the central mystery of who these attackers are and how they got that way.
This collection of the first five issues of "Awakening" doesn't answer that question. Presumably we'll learn more in the next collection -- disappointing, but almost inevitable in serial fiction.
Additionally, the art may be off-putting to some. Alex Eckman-Lawn (whose name, when paired with letterer Thomas Mauer's, inevitably reads "lawn mauer") uses mostly a woodcut style with heavy impressionistic overtones and a smattering of multimedia. This style has the authority of having been used in one of the earliest experiments in graphic storytelling, Frans Masereel's 1926 "Passionate Journey," as well as by contemporaries like Peter Kuper ("The Jungle"). While I quite enjoy this style, I understand it's not to everyone's taste.
Anyway, Tapalansky's story is clearly building to something big, and he's got me hooked.
-- "Batman/Doc Savage Special" ($4.99, DC Comics) is the first issue of something called "First Wave," an entirely new 1940s-style world of heroes without superpowers but with modern technology. It stars pulp hero Doc Savage as the pinnacle of human achievement. He meets a young Bruce Wayne, feeling his way along in his new career as "The Batman." This Dark Knight is based on the character as he was in his 1939 debut, when he carried guns and liked to use them.
It was fun to watch these characters meet and learn to trust each other to solve a murder. This new "World's Finest" team will be joined in a miniseries next year by other non-powered characters, including a new version of Will Eisner's The Spirit, pulp hero The Avenger, Rima the Jungle Girl, the Blackhawks and Black Canary.
This weird mash-up will probably provoke howls from purists. But comics characters are supposed to be fun, not museum pieces, and "First Wave" looks to be a hoot.
(E-mail Andrew A. Smith of The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal at capncomics(AT)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
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