Uber: Invasion #1 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 1, November 2016

Reading like some sort of degenerate history book, Issue One of “Uber: Invasion” is undoubtedly “one of the most horrible things” which Kieron Gillen has written. In fact, considering that this twenty-two page periodical depicts both the treacherous destruction of Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard and the cowardly obliteration of Boston, as well as battleship Siegfried’s harrowing mutilation of President Truman in his official residence, it is hard to imagine a more upsetting title with which “Avatar Press” could try and sell to its fellow Americans. It’s certainly clear why the publishing house successfully sought $51,083 funding via “Kickstarter” in order to bring such a contentious series “to life.”

Fortunately, such “grim and gritty work” by the Third Reich’s ‘alternative Second World War’ invasion force is seemingly kept to something of a minimum within this Teutonic tome courtesy of the Stafford-born writer’s script heavily focusing upon Britain’s unsurprising capitulation to Germany following the defeat of H.M.H. Churchill in Calais and the Soviet’s apparent disinterest in taking the fight to the Fatherland. Indeed, setting aside this comic’s propensity for profanity-laden violence, much of it actually reads like a frightful re-imagining of a legitimate, factually-accurate chronicle, and even goes so far as to enthrallingly incorporate the hand-written scribblings of General Sankt’s last journal and plenty of sombre, black and white film footage…

Perhaps this magazine’s most enthralling asset however, is Gillen’s ability to persistently erode the American Government’s confident comprehension of the war’s current situation, by regularly undermining statesman Franklin Stimson’s assumptions as to both his country’s perceived parity with the German’s enhanced human programme, and his security department’s intelligence as to the whereabouts of the “unstoppable monsters” Siegfried, Sieglinde and Siegmund; “At this moment, [the] Allies were unaware of the German ruse.” Such a deluge of disinformation could admittedly make for a truly depressing and ominous experience, but somehow the Kerrang! Award-winner’s narrative about the United States “struggling to make up lost ground in the Enhanced Soldier development” race, coupled with Daniel Gete’s pencilling of the President’s gory demise and the reformation of the White House into a giant metal swastika, genuinely proves a terrifyingly captivating read.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 1 by Daniel Gete