Ennis brings back the humor for the finale, but it’s different now. The protagonist isn’t a buffoon anymore, so it changes how the humor can play.

Most of the story takes place on the ground and Chaykin’s able to handle it (he still screws up a flying sequence at the opening of the issue); it also gives Ennis a chance to get away from the airbase. The majority of the issue is actually talking heads, with Ennis again relying on the dialogue to convey the moment. The title’s relevance finales becomes clear in the scene to good effect.

It’s an excellent series, even with the Chaykin art, and one of Ennis’s more academic approaches to comic book writing. One can see how he uses each plot device and development to bring it to the conclusion. The use of humor, in particular, is worth a considered look. Ennis’s writing is fantastic.

Now, at this issue, Ennis has shed the humor, he’s shed the doofus protagonist, he’s even shed enough of the supporting cast one can discern their identities even with Chaykin’s art… War Is Hell is now just a World War I comic. As such, it’s just an intense, constant tragedy.

It makes the issue somewhat difficult to talk about; while things happen, recounting it would be listing the dead. Ennis is still relying a lot on dialogue; instead of giving a history lesson in narration, he’s using the dialogue to inform the protagonist—and the reader—of the events unfolding at the same time in the rest of Europe. For all the flying, the series has never left the airbase; it’s getting claustrophobic.

This issue also might be the first where I don’t have anything particularly nasty to say about Chaykin. He hasn’t gotten better, the book’s gotten more depressing.

I do so wish Chaykin took the time to make the characters look different. If it weren’t for the differences in hair color, I’d be constantly confused. Even with the hair color, it’s still sometimes a challenge to immediately identify the protagonist.

After introducing humor into the series last issue, Ennis changes it up again this issue. Here the protagonist starts to understand the war; Ennis does all this edification in dialogue. War Is Hell is a success more in how Ennis is able to turn the series into an emotional self-discovery piece than an action comic.

Chaykin, obviously, is no longer suited for either type of story, but he’s completely incapable of doing dogfights and only mildly incapable of doing introspective scenes. And Ennis does work with what Chaykin is capable of doing. There’s not a lot of sitting and moping, it’s all in dramatic scenes.

Excellent stuff.

It takes Ennis until the last two or three pages to finally set up War Is Hell. It’s a great use of five issues, because his reveal isn’t particularly extraordinary. it’s just funny.

This issue also features the first complicated dogfight and Chaykin fails miserably. The rest of his layouts are fine, good even. But the dogfight is miserable and probably not worth the time to discern what he’s trying to convey.

Ennis gives a lot of attention to the dialogue here—Ennis loves his British dialects, but he isn’t using them in War Is Hell. Instead, he’s attempting to convey a very natural dialogue. It takes a tad more careful reading, but it’s worth it for the effect.

He’s also playing with the idea of a traditional protagonist. The supporting characters are far stronger so far. While unbalanced, the emphasis feels organic.

The issue’s quite good, writing trumping art.

Here’s the thing about Chaykin… no matter how many misshapen heads he draws, he still knows how to compose a panel and a page. Doesn’t remember what to do with it once that task is done (or more likely care to take the time), but he can lay it out right.

So while he’s not the best fit for War Is Hell—I mean, it’d love to see the script done by an artist who cares—he still brings it off. It doesn’t hurt Ennis’s script for this issue is outstanding. He lets himself have a little fun, getting some humor into a bad situation, but eventually the awfulness of it comes through and it hits.

There’s only one other problem—a scene relying on the reader hearing what the characters are hearing. It’s a strange mistake for Ennis. Otherwise, everything else he does in the issue works out great.