The war in Europe’s almost over and Ennis brings back Anna the pilot to do a story about that period.
She gets shot down in the first few pages and ends up in a prison camp. Ennis keeps it all incredibly simple. The scenes are during her recovery, the only other character the medic. He’s a British Jew. There’s a lot of talking about the war and the different countries.
It’s a talking heads book masquerading as a war comic. The two heads talking have to be interesting and Ennis carefully presents both his actors. Anna occasionally has unexpected reactions, while the Brit is patient and polite to the last.
Then Ennis finds an unexpected hard cliffhanger. Even though he foreshadows to it–and Anna should, it turns out, know what’s coming–it’s a surprise. There’s only so much horror one wants to imagine for the characters.
Very good stuff.
CREDITS
The Fall and Rise of Anna Kharkova, Part One; writer, Garth Ennis; penciller, Russ Braun; colorist, Tony Aviña; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.
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