Battlefields: Tankies #1

I’m not a huge fan of War comics, but I am a fan of War comics written by Garth Ennis. I’m sure the man has never seen an actual battle or even fired a gun, but he sure does know how to write about the many stories that took place throughout World War II.

Tankies will be the third in a series of stories that Ennis has been writing for the past several months. The first was about a female squadron of bombers in Russia. In that story they dealt with how even though Russia said they were making things equal for men and women, they still gave all the women extremely old planes that were left over from WWI. It was a cool story because it also followed a small squad of German soldiers as they made there way through the Russian front lines. Part of the story was being told from a very innocent German soldier while the other part focused on one of the female bombers. It was definitely informative and entertaining as we got to see what it was like for the female squadron as they did their bombing runs at night with their engines off. And it was even more interesting to read a story from the perspective of a German soldier witnessing all of the madness that he really wanted no part in. Battlefields: The Night Witches is available in trade paperback now if you wanna check it out.

The second story under the Battlefields banner was a love story, and a tragic one at that. A majority of the story is told in a letter that is being written by a nurse who works mostly in the South China Sea during World War II. She’s writing this letter to a love of hers, but in the letter she confesses some things that she’s felt pretty guilty for since her job is to save lives, not kill injured POW’s. I don’t wanna give too much away about this one because the story has a lot of great moments and reveals, but the art(Peter Snejbjerg) is exquisite and gives so much depth to Ennis’ words. Even the lettering(Simon Bowland) helps the story jump off the page. Unfortunately, this story, Dear Billy, won’t be released in a trade paperback till September, but if you must go get it, I’m sure you can find the issues.

Reading this series definitely makes me want to read Garth Ennis’ other War Stories stuff. I’ve heard a lot of good things about them, and I’m a fan other Ennis books like Preacher, The Pro, and Punisher MAX (yes, all start with P).

So this Wednesday, I am very much looking forward to Tankies, his third and last story under the Battlefields banner of war stories. The first two have been more than enjoyable, and I’m curious to read a story about a tank brigade and all of the mischief that ensues.

And one more thing I almost left out. John Cassaday is doing all of the covers, and they’re all fantastic. Cassaday never disappoints. If you want to see more of his great work, check out Astonishing X-Men, written by Joss Whedon. In my opinion, the best X-Men stuff you’ll ever read.

-Have a good Wednesday!