Uber: Invasion #9 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 9, October 2017

Firmly focusing upon the Allies’ struggles in Italy, and Leah Cohen’s beautifully storyboarded redemption at “the Brenner Pass Engagement”, Issue Nine of “Uber: Invasion” deals with both the unethical sacrifices war often asks of people, especially the young and innocent, as well as the sheer bloody mindedness which can help drive warriors to exhilarating victories against near overwhelming odds. Certainly it’s hard not to yell "Yah-boo sucks to you, Fritsie" towards the end of this twenty-two page periodical, when H.M.H. Churchill literally tears the German cruisers Gunther and Gutrune to bloody pieces before Sieglinde can assist the Nazi forces.

Indeed, this moment of “relatively little importance in the history of enhanced human warfare” genuinely must have caught this comic’s 3,955-strong readership by surprise in November 2017, as the cataclysmic confrontation appears without any warning right in the middle of the magazine, and within the space of just a few frames turns what had been an absorbing, albeit dialogue-heavy, tent-based debrief as to “what went wrong at Calais”, into a gore-spattered, mutilating massacre of the highest order. Fortunately, this bizarrely novel notion to have the “otherwise useless asset” “delivered perfectly” into the fray by the “5-1 destroyer” Arlington, isn’t introduced simply to help increase the publication’s plodding pace, but actually also helps to create one of the entire comic book series’ most memorable moments by depicting the triumphant “British Jew” hurling her female foe’s shredded remains in the direction of her belief’s persecutors, and defiantly gesturing using the ‘V-sign’; “H.M.H. Churchill proved more resilient than anyone could have expected.”

Less likeable, yet equally as intriguing as Cohen’s new-found usage, is Kieron Gillen’s spotlight upon General George S. Patton and the old soldier’s views as to the “Krauts” war-time position now Sieglinde is known to be in Italy, and thirteen year-old H.M.H. Britannia has started her painful activation process. "Old Blood and Guts" comes across precisely as one imagines that the real commander of the Third Army might have behaved, exuding arrogant confidence before his “slack-jawed” soldiers, an aggressive bullishness with his guests, and an admiration for raw strength and courage - even when it’s used against him in order to angrily send him rocketing skywards through the roof of his very own tent.

Daniel Gete’s artwork also greatly contributes towards making this comic an enjoyable experience. Leah’s formidable four ton mass, consistently cloaked in an all-consuming black robe, never ceases to impress whenever the penciller places her within one of his illustrations, whilst "Bandito" is similarly memorable, despite lacking the British heavy battleship’s bulk. However, where the man’s incredible drawing ability really comes to the fore is in his handling of Gunther and Gutrune’s disembowelling defeat. One can actually hear the tearing of the German cruisers' limbs as they’re torn from their grisly torsos, and their agonising shrieks as H.M.H. Churchill’s fingers bloodily bore into their bodies.

Writer: Kieron Gillen, Artwork: Daniel Gete, and Colors: Juan Rodriguez