War Stories Volume 4

Comic book journalists and pundits keep claiming that Garth Ennis “hates” superheroes, and while that is probably based on one quote given to a fanzine decades ago, it is still understandable when you read his war stories which find men in situations that superheroes would have trouble coming to terms with.I grew up with my parents’ generation having fought in the Second World War, and with uncles who had fought in the First, and I usually find Mr Ennis’s war stories an excellent tribute to those people.This volume contains two three-issue stories, the first following an infantry section of Irish soldiers in the British army patrolling on the edge of the Reichswald, prior to the offensive there. Being a party of Irish from both sides of the border, there are enough things going on that you’d think they wouldn’t need the Germans to fight, but, as always, the Germans manage to encourage everyone to put their differences aside and pull together. This story also serves to highlight the ‘problems’ of Irish history, which these soldiers would have lived through, and that 30,000 Irishmen from the Republic served in the British army (and 50,000 in total served in the various services), one of the reasons that even today, Irish citizens have the right to live and vote in Britain.The second story follows three US fighter pilots flying escort missions off Iwo Jima for the bombing campaign against Japan.The two stories manage to show the detain of daily life for these people, while also providing superb action sequences, and showing the human side of total war.

Maybe because Ennis can do little wrong in my eyes.I am too critical of this. However, maybe due to the art,I really didn’t enjoy this graph. I will continue to buy his war stories though. Loved Night Witches.