Uber: Invasion #12 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 12, February 2018

Ploddingly-paced and packed full of the detritus of a long, drawn-out world war, the plot to Issue Twelve of “Uber: Invasion” could easily have come across to its readers as a Deutschland-based ‘filler’ edition, intended to simply ‘pad out’ Kieron Gillen’s narrative and provide the former computer games journalist with a little breathing room before he penned the next scintillating story-arc to his militaristic magnum opus. But such a disparaging summary of this twenty-two page periodical’s plot really doesn’t do the British writer’s disturbingly engaging work justice, and would simply shroud some truly disquieting moments within its text.

For starters, the late repugnantly vile German Battleship Siegfried is shockingly divulged to have been just a fourteen-year old boy by his mother, Fraulein Jung. This revelation by the proud parent, created by the woman removing her hand from the plaque of her child’s commemorative bust, comes completely out of the blue and yet makes perfect sense when one considers that the arguably homicidal Nazi, who seemed to relish killing and mutilation more than anything else, was in reality just a child who “always loved his toy soldiers” and wrongly thought “he took after his [war-hero] father.”

Equally as disturbing is Steele’s destiny at the very end of this publication, with a cowardly calm Albert Speer quietly informing Sankt’s former adjutant that she will have her tongue removed “and your hands” simply because she was overheard discussing with Klaudia what would happen if the facially-disfigured Sieglinde did “what Siemund did. [And] just surrendered…” to the Allies.Exactly like Markus’ adolescent age, this horrifying fate to the “emotionally-conflicted panzermensch secretary” comes from ‘out of no-where’ and is addressed so matter-of-factly that it must have sent a serious shudder down the spines of any perusing bibliophiles; “That we need your halo effect means you keep your eyes… But you don’t need your hands any more. Do not think too harshly of me. Remember, I’m the good one.” 

Adding to this comic’s sense of all-pervading doom and despair is Daniel Gete’s marvellous story-boarding, which provides the entire publication’s tale with a persisting aura of hopeless listlessness. Each panel is crammed with detail by the “Logan’s Run: Last Day” penciller, whether it be the visible grain in every single wooden board or the stitching on Steele’s overcoat, but also appears to have been drawn in such a way as to additionally elevate the incredible inconsolable lethargy everyone is experiencing during these trying times…

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 12 by Daniel Gete