Battlefields: Dear Billy (2009) #2

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I can’t remember how Dear Billy ends. Even reading another issue, I can’t remember. I spent a while, in the back of my head, anticipating Ennis’s cliffhanger. Three issue limited, he’d have to cliffhang… but he doesn’t.

In fact, for a comic featuring a nurse killing three–wait, four–Japanese POWs, the most sensational thing in the comic is the two gay American intelligence guys. It’s a very strange scene, practically a domestic scene between the protagonist, Carrie, and her beau, the titular Billy, out with some friends.

Even when Carrie figures out a way to meet up with Billy on the front, it’s nowhere near as sensational as those two gay Americans. Girl on the front for a night of romance is unlikely, but gay American spies during World War II… it’s really not done. I don’t even think it’s done for soldiers in the Iraq War II (yet).

Battlefields: Dear Billy (2009) #1

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I’ve forgotten most of the details to Battlefields, which is nice as it turns out. I then can remember things, anticipate them as I read, makes the experience seem richer. It’s a rather rich experience to begin with–Ennis’s writing here, from a first person female narrator, puts his contemporaries to shame. As usual.

But I didn’t remember the specifics of Dear Billy, not until the last few pages did I remember what will unfold. So I got to read the issue both raw and a little aware. It makes for a fine experience.

There’s everything to recommend the book–Snejbjerg alone makes it essential–but it’s still just about Ennis’s amazing writing. He opens the issue with a moment of intense tragedy and never lets up on the reader, even when a relative calm comes over the protagonist. It makes her few smiles all the more powerful.

Ennis’s writing is simply devastating.

Battlefields: Dear Billy 3 (March 2009)

It’s a tad… Victorian, isn’t it?

I mean, it’s an excellent issue and a decent close to Dear Billy, but it’s just too confined.

With the whole letter to Billy thing–Ennis either has to use it as a letter to the guy or a narrative device. So he uses it as a narrative device. A delivery system for the story, which it’s not properly equipped to do. It’s a letter, it’s meant to be read.

The letter doesn’t open this issue and maybe it needed to be present again, from the start. Ennis’s spends the first two issues expanding the world of the protagonist–but not in the third issue. He constricts. Worse, he shifts a lot of the storytelling attention to Billy, away of Carrie.

It’s a very serious story and Ennis takes it seriously. But in being respectful, I think it got a little loose from him.

CREDITS

Writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Peter Snejbjerg; colorist, Rob Steen; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybrandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.

Battlefields: Dear Billy 2 (February 2009)

CREDITS

Writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Peter Snejbjerg; colorist, Rob Steen; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybrandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.

Battlefields: Dear Billy 1 (January 2009)

Ennis’s writing is simply devastating.

CREDITS

Writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Peter Snejbjerg; colorist, Rob Steen; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybrandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.

The Mighty (2009) #4

Ok, even if a commenter hadn’t given away the ominousness I’m feeling, this issue would have pretty much done it. There’s a lot of Alpha One being really, really weird here.

As far as Snejbjerg’s art and the changing face of Alpha One, I think he’s trying to intimate there’s something else going on but it’s just not coming off well. Instead of different expressions, it’s different faces entirely.

Tomasi and Champagne borrow another Superman movie scene here too, this time from Superman III. Given The Mighty appears to be a superhero going bad or superhero with lots of secrets book, like Irredeemable or, to some extent, Incognito, it’s surprising it doesn’t comment on superhero comics as much as it uses culturally ingrained superhero conventions (for a particularly age group at least).

It’s an interesting series; a complete second reading, once finished with the twelve issues, might be quite useful.

The Mighty (2009) #3

I’m reading The Mighty about as blind as anyone can read anything. I picked it up because of Tomasi and Snejbjerg reuniting after that angel one they did. Well, mostly because of Snejbjerg (so it’s hilarious it’s his contribution I have the most issue with, once again, his faces are way too loose, way too inconsistent–I get he goes for iconic with the superhero sometimes, but it looks like a completely different guy in close-ups).

In other words, I have no idea what’s going on. Either it’s about a superhero who’s got some issues–he busts in on his handler’s home life either out of overzealousness or to prove a point to the handler’s wife he’s number one, same goes for letting his handler almost suffocate in a room of his secret headquarters.

And there’s even more.

While I like not knowing, I’m also worried I’m just projecting.

The Mighty (2009) #2

There’s a big moment in the second issue of The Mighty directly informed, at least in the general consciousness, by Superman Returns (I’d heard it’s from an Alex Ross piece, but whatever, I’ve never seen it)–Alpha One, the superhero of the book (the world’s only superhero), is up in the rain listening for trouble. It’s kind of cool and kind of not. It’s cool because it makes sense. It’s not because, well, it’s the whole global superhero only in one city thing. I mean, I get it, it’s a good sequence, but it’s not ideal.

Also not ideal is Snejbjerg’s art. I love the guy, but he doesn’t keep his characters consistent here. Alpha One looks different every panel (in fact, in a lot of them he looks like a complete psychopath).

The book’s a strong one–it’s a different approach, positive but remaining thoughtfully realistic–it’s just unsteady.

The Mighty (2009) #1

There have been superhero comics where the superheroes aren’t in it (just look at DC’s current Superman output), but I think I mean more like The Boys or something along those lines. These revisionist takes on superheroes, where it’s sometimes more about the reaction.

The Mighty takes it a step further. The superhero never says a word the entire issue; instead, it’s all about his support team. Tomasi and Champagne nicely bring the reader up to date on everything–it’s not the DC Universe, it’s its own thing–with one flashback and some interviews. It works well.

Until the end, when you’re left not knowing what’s going on and changing protagonists at the drop of a hat.

It’s a strong comic book with a weak final five pages. It needs something more substantial, instead of just vague insinuations.

Snejbjerg art is excellent as usual, but is a little looser here.