Our Fighting Forces (2010) #1

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You know, when I saw B. Clay Moore’s name on the cover, I was horrified at the thought of reading the issue. Then, as it turned out, Moore’s absolutely capable of writing a mediocre war comic. Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher apparently aren’t capable of illustrating one, but Moore fills it with so much of the standard war story dialogue… the word balloons cover the ugly, trading card static artwork.

More than anything, this issue is a testament to the strengths of the war story as a genre. Even when it’s nothing intelligent, it’s able to convey a compelling narrative.

Moore has the Losers up against some Germans, outnumbered and overwhelmed. They try, they succeed. It works.

Moore’s format is unsteady—he starts out like he’s going to give every member a fair share of pages, but he doesn’t—and he’s got weak anachronisms.

But it could be much worse.

Battle Hymn (2005) #2

Bh2

Oh, wow, give B. Clay Moore a honorary history degree from Bob Jones University… he uses “homeland” in a 1940s scene. Maybe he should have just used Vaterland.

I’m also not sure “blue movie” isn’t an anachronism as well.

What’s also interesting is how Moore’s demonizing the U.S. government. I mean, FDR comes off as a bad guy in this comic. While I’m a little curious how it’ll turn out and I’m all for dramatic license, it’s not particularly solid, in terms of its history. I’m wondering what Moore did for research? Watched the History Channel? On mute?

The art’s solid again, but the plotting is just as lousy as the first issue. Basically all this issue does is show the reader the government can’t be trusted and the superhero team, hte Watchguard (either Moores think alike or B. Clay is “homaging”), has internal problems.

It’s a lame, readable comic.

Battle Hymn (2005) #1

Bh1

I wonder if Moore took this to Marvel and pitched it as a “Captain America is a tool” limited series. It’s too soon to really tell anything about the comic (always a good sign on a four issue limited, a wasteful first issue) but Jeremy Haun’s artwork is fantastic so it’s relatively painless.

Moore concentrates on how lousy the American government treats its citizens and its soldiers, whereas the British come off as civilized. I wonder if he’ll keep it up, given he’s doing a World War II comic. It’s not often one finds a World War II story where the emphasis isn’t on a bunch of people saving the world from bad guys.

Oh, wait, I forgot the other Marvel connection. It’s basically about the world discovering the sea-people, so it’s a Namor story.

Summing up–lovely artwork, lousy pacing. The issue takes about three minutes to read.