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!

Kick Ass #6

It would be unprofessional of me to not talk about Kick Ass before the movie comes out or at least before you start seeing trailers for it. The odd thing about this book is that it only took one issue and it already got optioned for movie rights.

It came out last April, which means it’s taken a year for the first story arc to wrap up. For some, that sounds like it could be extremely frustrating, but for the average comic reader, waiting a month for the story to continue is a basic rhythm.

But still, with it’s bi-monthly release, I was starting to get worried whether the movie was going to come out before the comic actually came to it’s sixth issue. No worries though, because the sixth issue is being released this Wednesday, and I guess you could say it’s what I’m looking forward to the most this week.

When I first read issue number one, I was pretty blown away. I enjoyed the hell out of it. Mark Millar’s gritty realism combined with John Romita Jr.’s classically modern art style helps tell the story of Dave Lizewski extremely well.

Kick Ass takes place in a very real world. Our world. Dave reads comics and talks about them with his friends, he has girl troubles just like every other nerd.

One day, without any real motivation, Dave decides to become a crime fighter. He buys a costume off the internet, works out, and goes on patrol. Eventually he has a run in with some thugs and gets beaten to a bloody pulp. After a few months of rehabilitation, he starts right back up again. He just can’t help himself. Finally, he gets noticed and makes a name for himself.

After earning some credibility in the media, other people are inspired to do what he does, which is where the story gets interesting. So far they’ve introduced a Father and daughter combo, where the girl uses swords to a disgustingly precise degree, and a kid about the same age as Dave, who’s using some of the knowledge of his family’s gang related activities to combat organized crime.

The first issue, like a lot of first issues, starts off with a jump in time. We see Dave already in his costume and get introduced to what could lead up to the climax of his first story. So with issue six; I’m hoping to see how he got there.

The big reason that I’m looking forward to this issue is that it’ll complete the first arc, and ultimately judge how good this series is so far. It’s had some bumps in the road, mostly because what felt like a very real story has gone into more obsurd plot lines, but entertaining none-the-less. And since I’m assuming that Kick Ass, the movie, will be based faithfully on the comic, then I can guess that what this whole first arc has in store will be what we see up on the screen.

I highly suggest you give this book a shot. The first collected trade paperback (or hardback) should be coming out soon, but if you can’t wait, they’ve made many other printings for it. Just find your local comic supplier.

Oh, and it does actually kick ass.

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