Unknown Soldier #20 – Review

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses and a beleaguered family make a last stand against the Karamojong cattle raiders.

What’s Good: With Unknown Soldier’s cancellation at issue #25, some big developments happen at the end of this issue that starts to set-up the series’ conclusion.  The most significant, and potentially the most disturbing, of these events is the final fate of Moses Lwanga’s personality, which has been battling for consciousness with the Unknown Soldier voice within his mind.  In typical fashion for this series, what happens is tragic, but also beautifully scripted by Dysart and rendered by Ponticelli.  What occurs physically on the page as Moses recedes is perfectly symbolic with what is occurring internally, there’s even a sense of suicide.  It’s very, very well done and I ended feeling a mix of disappointed, concerned, and saddened.

Most of the issue, however, sees Moses and a family of Karamojong desperately attempting to hold their ground against wave after wave of homicidal cattle raiders.  It’s rather neat seeing Dysart make use of military strategy, as Moses holds higher ground, positions his defenders, and attempts to predict the enemy’s attack patterns.  The trick Moses uses to get the family out is always rather clever; as one of the character’s points out, it’s the sort of ploy that one would see perpetrated by the tricksters of myth and folklore.