I wish Ennis had two parters and three parters in War Stories, because this arc–Our Wild Geese Go–doesn’t need three issues. Most of this issue has the big reveal talking to the closest thing to the arc’s protagonist (if only because he has an antagonist). Talking heads in the forest. Aira doesn’t do well with it. It seems like he’s trying to keep up with all the faces, but by the time the cliffhanger arrives… he’s lost track.

Of course, Ennis has kind of lost track too, which is why this arc would’ve been better at two issues. Ennis has a gimmick–that reveal–and once he shows his hands with it, everything in the comic becomes rather obvious, including the cliffhanger.

The gimmick itself, which I’m trying not to spoil, is a fine enough punchline for a certain type of story. Sadly, Ennis isn’t telling that story.

Ennis is off to a great start with the latest War Stories arc. It’s about a squad of Irish volunteers in World War II (I wasn’t actually sure if it was WWI or WWII; the Irish’s uniforms are quaint compared to the British and German ones).

The squad is, save one exception, all Southern. The politics of Ireland and Irish independence figure in, but alongside the war story. Ennis works out a beautiful balance to it, bubbling the resentments under the surface, only letting them pop at the best moments.

Most of the issue is talking heads. Yes, talking heads in a war zone, but it’s just this squad talking back and forth. Thanks to the uniforms, there are a couple soldiers Aria draws basically the same, but he’s definitely working on the expressions and the facial features.

The quiet finish reveals Ennis’s not insignificant ambitions for the story arc.

It’s a shame about Aira. He gets worse. Not just since last issue, but throughout this issue, he gets worse. By the end of the comic, I had to force myself to stop looking at characters’ faces because I knew Aira wouldn’t distinguish them well enough. I just paid attention to the dialogue.

Which had a typo.

Yet, it’s still an amazing comic book. Ennis hits another home run with the writing, with the depth and complication of it, with the sadness and horror. As far as the writing goes, this issue might be the best of the Avatar War Stories comics. It’s probably better than a lot of Battlefields. Ennis surprises to the end.

Reading Ennis in either a good, long ongoing or a genre he sticks to and develops in is a narrative of its own. You see how he learns and refines his craft.

Intricately wonderful writing.

This issue of War Stories, with Ennis exploring the dynamics of the German tankies and their civilian charges while hiding from Russians invading Germany, it’s essential war comics reading. Ennis’s characterizations, how he paces the issue, how he relieves and creates tension–it’s all top-notch writing. The dialogue’s great, so’s Ennis’s plotting of the scenes and their action.

But the art is atrocious.

When the comic starts, it seems like it might be better if Aira’s art were in black and white. The coloring doesn’t work with it so why not black and white? Because it’s soon clear even if some of Aira’s art did look better without the coloring, it’d still be terrible because he can’t visually set up action sequences, not with such an indistinct cast.

Some great lettering in this issue too. The way the protagonist’s narration looks is perfect.

The writing overcomes the art problems.

Garth Ennis is back to form on War Stories; his artist, Tomas Aira, is probably worse than the last time I saw him working on the book (could’ve been last issue… he’s not memorable).

But what is memorable is Ennis’s setup for this story. German civilians leaving Russian–in January 1945–the Russians kind of not making it easy for them to leave. It’s a refuge story from the perspective of a German girl. Ennis is trying again with War Stories; he’s trying really hard.

The story has action and a fair bit of drama. There’s no humor, except when the narrator too is aware of the irony of the jokes. Ennis does a great job establishing his cast members when not even giving them distinct enough names. The action goes okay but the drama’s all beautifully paced dialogue exchanges from Ennis.

Nice to see him caring about it again.