Kato Origins #1: Way Of The Ninja – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Joe Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part One: The police come to the home of the Green Hornet to ask Kato for help. A Korean grocer has been killed, and they need a steady hand doing translation. Britt (the Green Hornet) tells Kato to go, despite knowing that Kato is Japanese and can’t speak Korean. Kato finds a whole lot of racism (this is just after Pearl Harbor), a beautiful woman, a dead Korean with broken fingers, and a message that makes this whole case look a whole lot more personal that he thought.

What’s Good: This is a very sophisticated story. The action is gritty and noir. The panel layouts are brisk and dynamic, and despite the fascinating and insightful monologue by Kato, the narrative almost feels terse. The art says a lot through body language (check out the detective pulling Kato towards the corpse, or the tense altercation with McLaughlin) and facial expressions (look at Kato’s expressions as he looks at the body – there is menace in his curiosity, a bubbling anger that complements the ironic narrative). The fight sequences are awesome, with silent panels showing panicked, strobed movement before loud blows land and decide the outcomes. Worley and Fajardo do brilliant work of making us feel the setting, the emotions and the action in equal measure.

Battlefields: Tankies #2 – Review

by Garth Ennis (writer), Carlos Ezquerra (pencils), Hector Ezquerra (inks), Tony Avina (colors), and Simon Bowland (letters)

The Story: Our tankies continue to try to find a company to rendezvous with in the midst of an increasingly poorly organized war effort.

The Good: The series once again does a great job of detailing the vulnerability of WWII’s metal monsters. Instead of just seeing them blow stuff up, we get a real sense of “the metal coffin.” This is best dealt with by Ennis in his observations on technological escalation. In focusing on the innovation of the tank destroyer, Ennis details the marvels of technology that arose from the war as well as the marvels that are so very fleeting; a new tank is only king of the battlefield for ten minutes before a new tactic/weapon renders it vulnerable and obsolete.

Ennis also again successfully displays the heartrending realities of war and the  bittersweet nature of victory on the battlefield. The surprisingly victorious “last stand” in this issue was definitely the highpoint of this comic. Even when pulling victory from the jaws of defeat, celebration is marred by inescapable tragedy.

Meanwhile, Ennis again has a great deal of fun displaying the different British accents as well as the non-chalant British gentleman-officer’s attitude to war, both of which provide a lightly humorous, if not ludicrous tone.

Ezquerra’s art is definitely growing on me. His work is super detailed, lending itself well to the different models of tanks and the soldiers’ uniforms. Of course, having such a detail-oriented style also suits battlefield carnage quite well. Ezquerra displays his brilliance in drawing whole packs of men getting shot down or lying dead on the blood-soaked battlefield. It’s nothing less than appalling, and I mean that in the best way possible.

The Not-So-Good: You know up above, where I wrote what “the story” of this issue was?  That was actually surprisingly difficult for me to come up with. Ennis seems to have fallen prey to his own efforts of displaying the carnage of war, resulting in a distinct lack of any real plot. At this point, with the comic flashing between several units which we may or may not have seen before, it’s murky at best. What little plot there is isn’t exactly moving either, as our tankies’ attempt to join up with another unit is still ongoing, as this issue just, well, sees them driving around some more.  That said, you won’t notice this stagnation because it’s a struggle to even find the major plot thread. So what the hell is going on? Who are all these other units we keep seeing and what do they  have to do with our tankies? None of it is clear.

It’s not only the plot that suffers, however. The characters were weak last issue and we get even less character development this month. Honestly, I don’t even know the names of two-thirds of the characters. I feel like I barely know them and none feel like major characters who I should genuinely care about. Even the tank’s corporal, with his funny accent, is little more than a cliched “hard-bitten veteran” with little nuance.

Conclusion: Considering how awesome “Dear, Billy” was, this limited series is a little disappointing.  It’s not bad, it just lacks the depth of the previous two Battlefields stories.

Grade: C

-Alex Evans

Battlefields: Dear Billy #3 (of3) – Review

By Garth Ennis (writer) Peter Snejbjerg (pencils, inks) Rob Steen (colors).

The Story: Since this is the first review of a three-part series, and the final installment in it, please allow, dear WCBR reader, for me to delve into the general story of the entire Battlefields: Dear Billy title.

This series stars an English nurse named Carrie who survives the worst kind of abuse by the hands of her Japanese captors during the second world war. The way she processes her pain, in both sickening and beautiful ways, fuels this brief but memorable story. Her rotating roles of both hero and villain, victim and oppressor, add depth and realism to this story that is rarely found in any literary medium, let alone comic books. In these pages, Garth Ennis does an almost unspeakable  job of displaying the human condition in all its glory and all its dirt, with all its warts and with all its halos.

What’s  Good: There is noting wrong in the slightest with this comic. It should be studied and emulated. Ennis’ prose is uncannily subtle and powerful. One can get lost in the beauty and transcendence of a single sentence at the top of a panel, and then need to squirm uncomfortably from another line at the bottom of the same panel.

Peter Snejberg’s illustrations are open, simple, and powerful. A perfect compliment to Ennis’ narration.

What’s Not So Good: It ended.

Conclusion: There was a time, I am told, long ago that a comic book reader could get all different kinds of comics. Sports comics, western comics, space comics, and war comics. Must have been great to be a fanboy back then (I for one would love a good NFL based series). Well, Dynamite Comics publishes a true war comic here, breathing hope into a stifling Superhero based comic market. (On the side, I must add that no other comic publisher excites me more of their current offering than Dynamite).

This is my first foray in Garth Ennis’ work and I have to say, he lives up to the hype. Granted, this shouldn’t be a surprise as I have read that both Brian K. Vaughn and Robert Kirkman think he is one of the, (if not the) best out there. I have been weary of reading titles such as Crossed and Back To Brooklyn, which Ennis helms, because of the nature of their content, but these historical nonfiction tales really call out to me.

I realize that in this review I haven’t revealed much of the specific plot and that is because the story is so tightly written that I am afraid any detail might spoil it for the poor lug who hasn’t read this series yet. Quite soon this series will be collected into a small TPB and sold for less than ten bucks. Buy it! Or, if you can find them, get the whole series now with the three beautiful Cassady covers. I cannot not wait for the next series of Battlefields to hit the shelves!

Grade: A

-Rob G

Army of Darkness: Home Sweet Hell #12 – Review

By James Kuhoric, Mike Raicht, (writers) Pere Perez, (finished art) Ivan Nunes, (colors) Simon Bowland, (letters) Fabiano Neves, and Stjepan Sejic (covers)

Issue #11 for me was in many ways a dud. Whatever ailment Ash was going through that made him a sissy took away the entire appeal of the book. So why would I read #12? Curiosity I suppose, and as we all know, that killed the cat.

The good news is Ash starts to feel more like himself and embraces his role as the chosen one. The bad news is – well, everything else. Ash fighting something other than Deadites is fine, but what follows should be more than Hellraiser fan-fiction with bad jokes. Wrath asks, “How many souls can we tear apart tonight?” It comes across WAY too much like “We’ll tear your soul apart,” which is one of the most famous lines from Hellraiser. The line also loses all its punch coming from Wrath who looks and acts like a whiny little boy. It’s not threatening and not original. What’s worse is the dialogue between Ash and The Necronomicon. The Book of the Dead talks to, taunts, and cures Ash of his mental ailment. I can see what they were going for, but none of it really works.

For all of my harping on the writing, it’s still a very pretty book. Pere Perez’s style really fits the world of Army of Darkness. The origin of Pride, Envy, Greed, and Wrath are highlights in particular. With anywhere between two and four panels we get the life story of those four sins. The choice to give the book red eyes is another good move. I’m against the book having a consciousness and becoming Ash’s side-kick, but if it has to be done it might as well be able to emote and look menacing.

As an Evil Dead fan it’s hard to recommend this book. From a writing standpoint, it never feels Evil Dead-ish. It may look like it sometimes, use some of the same phrases, but it just isn’t. I doubt many fans will get into this book. There are just too many changes are made and none of them for the better. (Grade D-)

– Ben Berger