Uber: Invasion #3 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 3, January 2017

Predominantly concentrating upon the Battle of Naugatruck on the 19th November 1945, as well as the conflict’s central combatant, “one of the book’s true sadists” Siegfried, Issue Three of “Uber: Invasion” could surely never be criticised for not containing enough blood-soaked human mutilation to sate even the most gore-hungry of its audience. However, perhaps because Kieron Gillen’s script does focus upon the American’s attempt to duplicate the Soviet’s success at Kursk, it is hard not to shake the disconcerting belief that one has read much of this narrative before, especially when unsurprisingly the Third Reich's “greatest battleship warrior” is soon wrestled to the ground through sheer weight of numbers.

Sadly, this frustrating experience isn’t wholly appeased either, when the Germans create “a complication” the United States tank-men hadn’t anticipated by introducing Siegmund into the melee just as the ‘idiot boy’ is about to succumb to his opponents; “Thank the Fuhrer.” In fact, considering that the invaders are led by General Guderian, a man “noted for his success as a leader of Panzer units in Poland and France”, it would actually have proved more of a revelation if Hitler’s favourite had been injured by the somewhat ‘gung-ho’ assault.

This twenty-two page periodical’s saving grace however, is that its Stafford-born writer doesn’t dwell upon the Yanks’ disappointing “single battle engagement” for the comic’s entirety, but instead still manages to additionally skip around “the large canvas” of “Uber” in order to better tell his tale. These welcome ‘snapshots’ of Speer and Hitler conversing in Germany, along with Agent Stephanie and Alan Turing arriving in Boston really help elevate Gillen’s narrative above being just another “alternate World War II book”. Whilst Guderian’s concerns as to Siegfried’s notable lack of “grand battle honours”, foolish absence of fear and misbegotten belief that he’s a “better man” than the one-armed Siegmund, provides plenty of enthralling depth to the title’s supporting cast.

All of these scintillating shenanigans, whether they be Americans being literally torn apart by the halo effect blast of Panzermensch or the Third Reich’s supposed finest nonchalantly crushing the head of an injured tank-man with his bare-hands, are tremendously well illustrated by Daniel Gete. Indeed, it’s easy to see just why Gillen has subsequently agreed for the title to “take slightly longer coming out” in order to ensure that the penciller doesn’t “have to have the third arc off” and can provide “artistic consistency across all of Volume Two”.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 3 by Daniel Gete