Uber #3 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 3, June 2013

There is most decidedly a different feel to the writing of Issue Three of “Uber”. The shocking profanity-filled dialogue of past editions has almost entirely been erased. Whilst the graphically gory illustrations of mutilation and decapitation have also been reduced to a minimum... for the most part at least. This is an “Avatar book” after all.

But the reason behind such a sudden and dramatic change in this title’s tone is not obvious until Kieron Gillen’s Afterword within which the British author expresses his delight that his book has apparently sold “really well” and that he was nervous about its reception owing to the fact that he wrote the first issue five years earlier in 2008. Having been “crazily twitchy over” his creation’s beginning, the former computer game journalist assures those readers “who were getting lost earlier” that “from now on, it’s all… modern” scripts and sets about using this edition to begin “untangling” the somewhat epic storyline’s “structure a little”.

In order to do this Gillen simply tells the parallel tale of the comic’s two main protagonists, German General Sankt and British secret agent Stephanie as they report to their respective state heads, Herr Hitler and Winston Churchill. Both briefings, played out simultaneously to one another, ‘fill-in’ an awful lot of backstory to this title. Some of which was even missing from the series’ “sell-out” launch edition.

Yet both also conclude with very different endings for their lead characters. Britain’s “old girl” is dispatched to Bletchley Park to begin work on creating “something better than the tank-huns.” Whilst the Fuhrer’s “Hero” is murdered by his maniacal leader by having his head melted for failing to inform the despot earlier about his super-human successes. “There’s something for you to think about as your brain slides down your face, eh?” as Adolf says.

Despite the sedentary nature of the plot, Caanan White produces some simply stunningly dynamic artwork for this book. The vast majority of which is centered upon the spookily compelling facial expressions of Germany’s Fuhrer. As Gillen states on his ‘workblog’ “there’s probably an essay there” as the former “Ptolus: City By The Spire” artist depicts “a man at the edge of breakdown”, a country’s leader who is clearly “mentally and physically broken.” A murderous fiend who genuinely believes ‘he is Germany’ and merrily sits upon a sofa supping broth whilst a misshapen twitching corpse, still steaming from the burning hot electrical discharge of a “wunderwaffen”, lies at his feet.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 3 by Caanan White