Uber: Invasion #17 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 17, October 2018

There’s debatably a perturbingly palpable aura of hurried haste to the penmanship of this twenty-two page periodical which must have unnerved many in its audience, and unhappily given them the impression that the ongoing series’ British creator was probably desperate to bring his depiction of “an alternate World War II in which the Third Reich develops powerful superhuman soldiers” to as quick an end as possible. Indeed, artist Daniel Gete’s Propaganda Poster Cover illustration for Issue Seventeen of “Uber: Invasion” even comes boldly emblazoned with the wording “Let’s Finish The Job!” on it, as a triumphant super-swift Zephyr faces the Nazi remnants.

Sadly however, such a panicky pace to this comic’s narrative doesn’t arguably allow the GLAAD Media Award-winner to properly explore all the interactions between his large cast of characters as he would ordinarily, and as a result this book swiftly sees the disappointing demise of both the Allies’ latest acquisition, the defector Werner, as well as Japan’s sole Battleship, Yamato, in quick succession. Admittedly, these battle-worn Ubermensch had been somewhat relegated to the side-lines for this publication’s previous few instalments, and were in “far from perfect condition”, even if Gete’s does mistakenly pencil Siegmund with two arms instead of one as the disabled German crash-lands into a partially demolished Tokyo. But that doesn’t mean that a potentially promising lengthy bout between the two super-powered behemoths should have been substituted for a more ‘readily-condensed’ plot involving a uranium bomb which had apparently been previously “dropped on Hiroshima”, and the wheelchair bound Miyoko having his head simply removed from his shoulders by Cruisers Bravo and Bluestone.

Equally as unenjoyable is this book’s cumbersome conclusion, which arrives so abruptly that it doubtless had many bibliophiles flipping through its numerous back-paged “Crossed Trades” advertisements, unsuccessfully searching for the storyline’s final few panels. As aforementioned, this publication contains a couple of notable culminations already, yet when it comes to depicting Vernon and Freddy Rivers’ raid of the Imperial Palace and “the fanatical resistance” thrown at the Americans by the Japanese, the publication’s readers aren’t shown any of the animated action whatsoever, and are instead merely presented with an inauspiciously brief look at the Emperor recording a message for broadcast before being “extracted successfully within the hour.”

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 17 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #16 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 16, September 2018

Viewed by creator Kieron Gillen as the end of his “Mother Russia” arc, or rather “What To Do About A Problem Like Maria?”, this decidedly different “take on The Sound Of Music” almost exclusively focuses upon Katyusha’s miraculous resurrection following her previously depicted death during “a chance attack from a flank”, and the sweet mad thing’s subsequent unsurprisingly merciless revenge upon the traitorous Soviets responsible for her cold-blooded murder; “The enhanced forces that had accompanied Andreevna’s apparent corpse on its return from the East were deployed, but were neutralised swiftly. It could not be truly characterised as a fight. It was more like punishment.”

But whilst such a one-sided conflict may well seem a rather superfluously long sequence to some readers, the utter terror etched upon Joseph Stalin’s blanched features, as well as the narrative’s frequent biblically-based analogies, impressively still manages to imbue this twenty-two page periodical’s plot with an enthralling aura of nervous tension and suspense. Indeed, the Georgian dictator’s ultimately horrific, painful demise is as unforeseen a fate as his transformation into a statue of the highly valuable ruby “red muck” is fantastical, and few within this title’s audience wouldn’t have felt their heart quicken when the soon-to-be “pillar-of-catalyst” first peers from out of his Kremlin office’s window and open-eyed spies Maria merrily waving back at him from the cobbled Moscow street below.

Pleasingly however, just because the former music journalist’s narrative predominantly follows the exploits of "The Manic Sniper" doesn’t mean it simply ignores the likes of Olesya, Molotov, Siegmund and Leah Cohen either, with H.M.H. Churchill in particular being penned an especially poignant moment when Maria fixes the huge monster’s partially severed right leg and enables the super-strong woman to walk once again. This extraordinary ‘twinkling of optimism’ amidst a publication packed full of alarming atrocity is then arguably made all the brighter when artist Daniel Gete’s ‘camera’ promptly pans away from the fading figure of the stumbling British behemoth and highlights that Maria’s act of kindness actually occurs beneath the disconcertingly well-pencilled remains of the three crucified “Judas” Russians the “Battleship class Ubermensch” gruesomely dispatched without a moment’s thought just minutes earlier.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 16 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #15 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 15, July 2018

Considering the sheer number of major ‘chess pieces’ which seemingly fall within this twenty-two page periodical the vast majority of its readers must have wondered by its end in just which direction creator Kieron Gillen was going to take his “alternate World War II” title next. In fact, with the sole exception of H.M.H. Churchill, who literally tears Battleship Zero to pulpy pieces courtesy of her superior “brute force” and “tactical intelligence”, none of this ongoing series’ lead protagonists survive their individual battlefields intact.

Such a savage assault upon his audience’s senses would arguably have seen this comic’s British author ordinarily limit his narrative to a single super-powered confrontation per publication, especially when the plot progresses to the highly-anticipated point where Sieglinde “and the supporting lower classes of enhanced humans” just west of Moscow encounter Katyusha for a third (and quite possibly final) time. However, rather than produce a lengthy 'heavyweight bout', the Stafford-born writer's altercation is instead surprisingly swift, and whilst this 'shortness' ensures that the women's fight pales into insignificance when compared to the grotesque goriness of Leah Cohen’s ferocious mutilation of Klaudia’s blood-red malformed pet, it arguably provides plenty more shock value, most notably when the “Ubermensch aligned with the U.S.S.R.” spares her fallen, facially-disfigured opponent and sincerely tells her to “get on your silly bike, silly woman” and “not come back.”

So sudden a conclusion debatably suggests that the former computer games journalist was probably planning plenty of exposition for the rest of this book, so his subsequent coverage of the Battle of Irkutsk, where a Soviet artillery battery has “allowed the Andreevna-tipped force to assemble on the east bank of the river, opposite the Japanese ranks” comes completely out of the blue, as does the fact that "The Manic Sniper" bests the super-powered Yamato within the blink of an eye; “No suicide soldiers here today, Hideki. There is nothing for you in Russia. You were stupid to come. We must be smarter. There is little time for us to not be smart.”

However, considering that despite their vastly opposing values Katyusha continues to allow her fellow battleships to live and thus potentially still threaten Joseph Stalin’s growing tyrannical empire in the future, it is Gillen’s sense-shattering conclusion to this comic which probably made its fans bolt upright the most. Torn asunder from behind by the halo-effects of those who were supposedly employed to protect her, Maria’s agonising death at the hands of the treacherous Olesya is both utterly captivating and genuinely upsetting, not least because it is so dynamically-drawn by regular artist Daniel Gete.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 15 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #14 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 14, June 2018

Starting with one of artist Daniel Gete’s most sickeningly ghastly images imaginable, as Battleship Zero triumphantly sits atop a devastated Russian Tank tearing its driver’s head from his blood-drenched corpse with the super-powered beast’s malformed jaws, Kieron Gillen’s script for Issue Fourteen of “Uber: Invasion” must have struck its audience as being designed to both race through the title’s numerous plot-threads as fast as possible, whilst simultaneously trying to imbue his work with as many of the horrors of this “alternate World War II” as well. Indeed, such is the sheer pace of the former computer games journalist’s narrative, that in many ways it makes the twenty-two page periodical feel as if it is deliberately tying-up loose ends before the ongoing series’ final instalment, especially when it starts chopping from events depicted in Minsk, Vladivostok, Siberia, the Kremlin, Smolensk and Italy all within the space of just over half the book.

Fortunately however, the Kerrang! Award-winner does at least momentarily pause to deliver an insight into the Third Reich’s tactics designed to thwart an Allied Zephyr Flight, and resultantly provides a welcome spotlight upon Sieglinde as she battles a formidably-sized contingent of T-34 tanks and becomes “aware of a lesion on her cheek shortly after 14:00”. Trained to follow a specifically-designed manoeuvre which leads to “a single-enhanced Blitzmensch destroyer… unleashing a broad low-intensity halo effect across the area” she inhabits, the blonde battleship's drill proves remarkably effective in instantly vaporising the ‘Flash-like’ American soldiers, and due to a haplessly brave attempt by one Yank to outwit the Nazi force’s Anti-Zephyr system, undoubtedly proves to be the comic’s highlight; “These low-level halo effects were insufficient to damage a Tank-man level enhanced human. However, a bubble of energy would still cause the death of a zephyr if it collided with one.”

Just as tense, albeit without any trace of blood or bodily mutilation, is Stephanie’s confrontation with H.M.H. Churchill. Leah’s intense anger at the secret agent’s cold-hearted willingness to previously tie Tamara to a bomb rather than risk the young girl falling into the hands of the Axis Powers has proved a genuine barrier to the pair’s subsequent relationship, and never has that divide been more evident than in this publication when General Patton demands to put the wheel-bound woman in front of a firing squad of siege guns when she refuses to “be redeployed via Turkish corridor” alone. Having explained the rationale behind the decision to split the debilitated behemoth from her child protégé, the British scientist tells the giant woman to “crush my head if you don’t trust me with her”, and then holds her breath as every anxious reader looks into the chillingly dead eyes of Cohen’s eyes and nervously turns the page…

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 14 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #13 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 13, April 2018

Despite containing the highly anticipated rematch between Battleship Sieglinde and "the unclassified class of enhanced human, Maria Andreevna", Kieron Gillen's script for Issue Thirteen of "Uber: Invasion" must have struck the majority of its audience as an exceedingly choppy affair which promises much with its fleeting features focusing upon Stephanie, Werner Frei, General George Patton, Leah Cohen, as well as the Battleship Yamato, and yet debatably delivers little. Indeed, it's hard not to feel that the former computer games journalist was always going to struggle to produce a cohesive story-line just as soon as he set his sights upon covering events which occurred across the United States, Siberia, Italy, Minsk and "Japanese-occupied China" all within the space of a single, piecemeal twenty-two page periodical.

Such a truly mammoth bout of word-heavy, internationally-based exposition would ordinarily prove difficult enough for any perusing bibliophile to stomach, especially when huge chunks of text are somewhat monotonously penned to replicate the dry tone of a text book. But disconcertingly, the British writer arguably makes matters all the worse by placing this comic's emphasis upon its conversational sequences, rather than its far more engaging action-packed battles.

This perturbing prioritisation genuinely seems to drag any of the book's pulse-pounding pace down into the "lake of... nutritious fluid" along with "the primary Soviet asset" following her shock defeat, and begs the question as to why Gillen felt Battleship Siegmund's interrogation session in which the one-armed traitor simply states "<Oh -- and I killed Hitler>" was worthy of four entire pages, whilst the German offensive against a "Soviet side" consisting "solely of Tankmen" is limited to just two tiny rectangular panels? Surely, some of this sheet space would have been better employed providing a better insight into the Battle of Minsk, or elaborate upon Maria's terrifying realisation that the grotesque-looking Battleship Zero "proved indifferent to the halo effect's distortion of its body"?

Fortunately, Daniel Gete at least provides some consistency to this publication, courtesy of his scintillating story-boarding. In fact, the "Avatar Press" artist's truly horrific detailed depiction of General Sankt's initial attempt "to create a battleship", along with Katyusha's wide-eyed belief that she has come face-to-face with Satan, is potentially worth the cover price of this comic alone... And such an accolade comes before even mentioning the illustrator's subsequent sense-shattering skirmish between the the pair of fearsome powerhouses, or H.M.H. Churchill's earlier angst-fuelled assault upon her bespectacled creator for failing to inform her "about Tamara and the bomb."

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 13 by Daniel Gete

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

Uber: Invasion #11 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 11, January 2018

It’s hard to think of a more depressing narrative which disconcertingly deals with a stunning victory over a one-time seemingly insurmountable evil, than that penned by Kieron Gillen for Issue Eleven of “Uber: Invasion”. Indeed, Stephanie’s “good news” message to Battleship Colossus that the German’s invasion force of America has surrendered to the Allies is probably the last thing young Eamonn O'Connor wants to hear, considering the horrific physical mutilation this comic book’s demoralising conclusion has cost him.

Equally as dispiriting though is the fate bestowed upon the Afro-American super-soldiers Vernon and Freddie by the United States Military, who, perhaps because of their evident prejudicial unease concerning the duo’s racial background, coupled with the pair’s previously recorded unwillingness to blindly follow orders, have ensured that the brothers have squandered most of their active service deployed on the West Coast, sat within an army hangar hoping “that Yamato would engage Portland itself, and walk into the trap.”

This ‘waste’ of U.S.S. Bravo and U.S.S. Bluestone at a time when civilian war-time casualties are increasingly insurmountable as a result of Nazi halo attacks would be perturbing enough on its own. Yet the Kerrang! Award-winner really drives the U.S. Cruisers mishandling home by proclaiming that the Japanese Uber they were supposedly ‘targeting’ actually departed for Asia in a submarine sometime before both “the final German encounter near Oak Ridge” and their friend’s life-changing injuries. To make matters even worse, the British writer even takes the time to reinforce the Generals’ concerns regarding the two men’s professional discipline by having Daniel Gete pencil them arrogantly challenging an M.P. when he catches the couple gambling within their barracks; “Yeah, we shouldn’t. Yet here we are.”

Of course all these quibbles are just a side-show compared to the main event between U.S.S. Colossus and his Third Reich rival, Siegmund. In fact, in many ways this entire publication's run has been geared towards the two fully-activated battleships cataclysmically confronting one another ever since Gillen first scripted the youngster surviving Miyoko Yoshiuki’s attack upon Okinawa, during the title’s first series. Disappointingly however, the pair appear to have been destined never to properly fight, with Razor receiving his gratuitous injuries as a result of specifically saving his defecting opponent’s life, rather than having them inflicted upon him during the heat of battle.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 11 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #10 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 10, November 2017

Readily acknowledged by writer Kieron Gillen in the book’s afterword that it “breaks from the episodic model” of the series by being a “two-parter”, the narrative to Issue Ten of “Uber: Invasion” must have frustrated many of its 3,880 followers in January 2018 with its plot’s pedestrian pace and unresolved moments of heightened tension. For whilst the twenty-two page periodical promises a palpably tense game of ‘cat and mouse’ between Siegmund and the American deployment of several “conspicuous ghost units of [fake] Zephyrs”, as well as a cataclysmic confrontation concerning the Japanese Battleship, U.S.S. Bravo and U.S.S. Bluestone, the GLAAD Media Award-winner’s script fails to deliver any of it, and instead simply creates disappointment after disappointment.

To begin with, Stephanie’s ruse to “deploy something that looks like a Zephyr unit” in front of the German’s advance initially sounds like a tremendous idea to keep the enemy temporarily at bay in order to allow the Allies time to start “cooking up the next batch” of their alternate panzermensch build, and provide plenty of ‘cloak and dagger’ shenanigans as the Third Reich probe their opponent’s “technological edge”. Instead however, the Stafford-born author simply has the Nazis utterly ignore the well-coordinated ploy and continue their offensive upon American soil regardless of the lethal threat posed by the diamond-bladed speedsters…

Even more disenchanting though, has to be the debacle at the Manzanar Internment Camp. No less than seven dialogue-driven pages are (mis)spent dealing with the issue as to whether or not Hideki is seeking sanctuary within the war relocation centre, and at the sequence’s conclusion, the only things the readers know for sure is that Vernon Rivers and his younger brother, Freddy, lack the murderously mercenary attitude of their Prussian counter-parts, and that Battleship Yamato is at least “seventy miles west” of where American military intelligence believed he was…

Such a sedentary scene-infested publication really does rely upon its artist to help carry its audience through the story-telling, and for the most part, Daniel Gete’s drawings do more than a reasonable job. Indeed, Sigfried’s post-mortem, as well as Stephanie’s disconcerting discovery of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb, are exquisitely pencilled, and really bring both the Germans and the Allied scientist’s concerns as to the course of the war to the fore. Unhappily, the same cannot be said for the illustrator's work depicting the Axis decision to “frustrate” their enemy despite the apparent presence of Zephyrs, nor U.S.S. Bluestone’s refusal to liquidate an entire settlement on the off chance its sheltering the Japanese Battleship, with both sequences lacking life and (for once) consistency. 

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

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

Uber: Invasion #8 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 8, August 2017

Reintroducing “the second of the three pillars of volume one of Uber”, the Battleship-class Ubermensch Katyusha, Kieron Gillen’s script for Issue Eight of “Uber: Invasion” was probably viewed as something of ‘slow-burner’ by the comic’s 4,053-strong audience in September 2017. In fact, to be brutally honest, it isn’t until the “poor little living atheist god Maria” shockingly blows off Comrade Olesya’s right hand a good third of the way through the twenty-two page periodical that things finally start to get interesting. 

Up until this horrifyingly swift moment of mutilation however, the Stafford-born writer seemingly spends far too much time focusing upon Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov’s dialogue-heavy attempt to convince ‘his fellow worker’ to either invade Germany (and bring an end to the war) or reveal the secret behind her ability to manifest a shipment of catalyst from thin air, than is necessarily needed. Admittedly, these dialogues disclose just how treacherously untrustworthy the Soviet politician and his blonde spy’s motivations towards their “mystic hero queen of the Motherland” are, but in many ways this hostility can clearly be seen in the way the duo confidentially conspire with one another when they first meet at the Siberian gulag’s gates; “Olesya, tell me -- Has she taught you her secrets yet?”   

Far less obvious, until the comic’s end at least, is Andreevna’s motivation for gratuitously ‘disarming’ her “strapping” student’ and then sending the maimed young woman fleeing into the cold winter night wearing just a bloodied bed shirt. Momentarily, it actually appears that the surprisingly naïve "Manic Sniper" has actually deduced that Molotov has hidden a murderous mole within her training ranks and is going to gruesomely torture her enemy to death. However, such a vengeful motivation is quickly dispelled when Maria momentarily appears in the wilderness a good few days later, in order to help feed a dishevelled, sickly Olesya and reveals that she is in fact, trying to teach her student how to make the all-important bright red catalyst for herself.

Strangely, artist Daniel Gete also seems to somehow struggle with the plodding pace of Gillen’s storyline for this edition, as he disconcertingly appears to be unable to pencil “Blondie” with any consistency once she has escaped the gulag and spent a few nights buried beneath the Siberian snow with only a halo’s heat to keep her warm. Likewise, the illustrator’s renderings of Olesya’s three forerunners, with perhaps the exception of the macabre remains of the third, don’t appear quite as well-drawn as some of his similarly-themed previous work for this title.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 8 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #7 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 7, June 2017

Kieron Gillen was quite right when he later wrote that the storyline to Issue Seven of “Uber: Invasion” “was a strange one to see come into existence”, for despite the comic containing plenty of the truly gratuitous mutilation for which “Avatar Press” publications are synonymous with, this particular twenty-two page periodical reads more like a medical text book for performing a major operation, than a comic book depicting the fall of Siegfried - the “First Nazi Battleship Fatality.” Certainly, it’s hard to detect any glimmer of emotion in the narrator’s ‘voice’ as they matter-of-factly recount the heroic self-sacrifice of African-American soldier Charles Rivers, and the pin-point precision attack by the “Zephyr” upon Markus’ throat and right eye ball with “diamond-edged blades”.

Arguably, such a monotone, “hyper-slow motion erosion” of the National Socialist monster, “sliver of flesh by sliver of flesh”, could have become quite a tediously gory read for this title’s 4,277 followers, with the assault on the German’s sight alone requiring a staggering nine frames in order to depict the cutting of his cornea and the subsequent self-rupturing halo activation which instantly disintegrates a third of the still-conscious Nazi’s head. However, that definitely is not the case here, as the text proves a more than compelling read by realistically describing the combatants’ options, considerations and consequences, almost as if they were authentic historical figures.

Gillen’s unexpected introduction of the red-suited super-swift Zephyr also ensures a surprising change to events from those anticipated when Razor’s ‘sneak attack’ upon a “fully-developed” Battleship causes no discernible damage whatsoever. Indeed, before “the initial five enhanced humans” somewhat nonchalantly stroll up to the sadistic Siegfried’s stationary, mid-punch form and take him apart piece by bloody piece, it momentarily appears that U.S.S. Colossus II is about to suffer an even more ignominiously fatal defeat than his older brother did in Paris.     

Topping off this clinical conclusion to the “first year of Uber Invasion”, is Daniel Getes’ vivid artwork. The penciller really manages to nail the sense of “speed with no kineticism” when illustrating the latest additions to the Allied super-human arsenal, by resisting the temptation to “try and get that Kirby-velocity” and simply capturing each “moment in the hyper-detail” instead. Little wonder therefore that this title’s British writer praise’s the “perfect” artist’s contribution in the magazine’s afterword.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 7 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #6 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 6, May 2017

Bringing an end to “what will be the first trade of Uber Invasion” this particular twenty-two periodical initially focuses upon the reactivation of one of “the first wave of Japanese enhanced soldiers”, Hideki, and his three month sabbatical upon a desert island in order to become the Battleship Yamato. Honourable, dedicated and loyal to his Empire, the Okinawa veteran’s sense of duty, and occasional questioning of his handler’s ‘animal experiments’ in Manchukuo, admittedly makes for something of a sedentary narrative, despite Daniel Gete’s opening splash illustration depicting the warrior holding the bloodied corpse of an American uber by the throat. But also appears a necessary ‘evil’ by Kieron Gillen, in order to explain just how one of General Ushijima’s many miyoko has suddenly become so powerful that he can “devastate San Diego’s harbour and its defences the moment he was able to see them.”

Disappointingly, this rare glimpse of Hideki’s tremendous power, which fleetingly includes his “complete annihilation of the city on foot”, is then followed by a seemingly cumbersome conversational piece between Miss Stephanie and Eamonn O’Connor, concerning the grisly fate of the American’s older brother. Set against the backdrop of Freddie Rivers “relatively humane euthanasia” of Dixie in a darkly foreboding wooden barn, this disconcerting, dialogue-heavy scene appears to simply repeat Razor’s ever-present doubts as to H.M.H. Colossus’ fate in Paris, as well as his own role in the fight against “the German battleships”, and strangely suggests that the title’s creator has swapped the two brother’s first names around; with both the super-powered adolescent and British scientist referring to the deceased “first Allied enhanced human” as “Eamonn” rather than Patrick?

Just as arguably frustrating to this title's 4,314 followers, must have been Gillen’s decision to conclude Issue Six of “Uber: Invasion” with General George S. Patton spending four entire pages contemplating whether his army is going to cross “the goddam Alps” and risk being ‘isolated and destroyed’. If the former music journalist’s previous scene didn’t smack of superfluous prevarication then this supposed ‘insight’ into the military thought-processes of “Old Blood and Guts” certainly is, and provides an incredibly dissatisfying conclusion to a comic book which primarily appeared destined to continue the series’ graphically gruesome depiction of an alternative World War Two.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 6 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #5 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 5, March 2017

Focusing predominantly upon “the experimentation, production and R&D” of the Uber catalyst, rather than any specific battles between American and German super-soldiers, Kieron Gillen’s script for this twenty-two page periodical is no less impactive or grisly-looking than the series’ previous instalments. Indeed, as a result of Stephanie’s usage “of an unknown-sourced set of instructions for assembling enhanced beings” upon a couple of hapless volunteers and Joe Davies’ extreme reaction to his ‘activation’, Issue Five of “Uber: Invasion” contains some exceedingly disturbing sequences, such as the aforementioned soldier's bones literally snapping up out of his body, despite the scientist’s “increased precautions” to safeguard her ‘patient’.

This theme of ‘trial and error’, as well as the cost in human lives to succeed, permeates throughout the former music journalist’s narrative, and despite being understandably somewhat sedentary in nature, is made particularly evident when an arrogant General Groves realises that in order to develop “a tank-man army ready quick enough to win the second Battle of Kursk” Stalin quite ruthlessly “just threw half a million lives” away in the identification process. A sobering sum when one considers the American officer got “twitchy about the invasion of Japan” because of the amount of casualties such a task might cause and resultantly offers just three “catalyst-susceptible soldiers” to become the Allies “new superweapons”.

Perhaps somewhat fortunately though, the GLAAD Media Award-winner’s storyline does still occasionally step away from its increasingly depressing review of America’s war effort, and momentarily touch upon the title’s far wider plot threads. In fact, the horrifically bloody neutralisation of the Third Reich’s southern invasion force “in a skirmish west of Philadelphia” potentially demonstrates just how tenuous a hold the Axis Powers actually have in the United States, with Hitler’s hopes seemingly being solely reliant upon the abilities of his two battleship-class soldiers; at least until Barker’s cliff-hanger exclamation that a Japanese Uber has attacked San Diego…

Regular artist Daniel Gete undoubtedly adds to this comic’s overall gruesomeness by definitively depicting the brutal impact the ruby-red catalyst can have upon the human body. Yet, strangely appears ‘off-form’ when pencilling some of the wordier panels, such as when “a regular southern gentleman” spouts his prejudicial nonsense at the title’s leading “enhanced Negro soldiers”, or James Matthews is rather poorly illustrated simply eating with “the entire second wave of candidates.”

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 5 by Daniel Gete

Uber: Invasion #4 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 4, February 2017

Set “one week before the invasion of the United States of America”, and described by its author as “basically an overview of what had been going on in Great Britain” since its surrender to the Third Reich, Issue Four of “Uber: Invasion” is undeniably packed full of just the sort of espionage-orientated action the series’ long-standing audience would have come to expect from a story featuring Stephanie and Alan Turing. In fact, Kieron Gillen’s tale of the ‘heroine’ suddenly discovering a new battleship candidate in the shape of a tiny girl, and their subsequent somewhat bloody flight out of the country and across the Atlantic, really drives home that it’s been “over a year” since the Kerrang! Award-winner last gave the title’s de facto lead “things to say. Or things to do.”

Fortunately however, the Stafford-born writer’s narrative additionally allows newcomers to the comic book to appreciate “exactly who Stephanie is by the end of the episode” with its depiction of the female intelligence operative shockingly putting a gun against young Tamara’s head when she fears the Nazis will discover them, and cold-bloodedly arranging for H.M.H. Churchill to gorily squish the skulls of a couple of hapless German sentries checking their getaway truck with her massive bare hands; “Close your eyes, honey.” Of course, there’s always the Allied scientist’s ruthless destruction of an entire enemy submarine “two days after the Battle of Naugatuck”, courtesy of ‘the officer forgetting her second case’ after disembarkation, to help truly reinforce the character’s single-minded determination to “save the bloody colonials” and win the war…

Just as successful as Gillen’s wonderfully tense and enthralling penmanship, is Daniel Gete’s artwork for this twenty-two page periodical. Whether the illustrator is drawing the heavily overcrowded ‘testing’ scenes set within The White Lamb public house or a German Uber viciously tearing apart a young fleeing family with his halo effect, the penciller’s attention to minute detail, such as the pieces of broken furniture littering the floor after “a brewing experiment that’s gone messily amiss”, is captivating. Indeed, the artist alone single-handedly conveys all the traumatic terror of Stephanie and her juvenile ward, as they quietly cower within the mud of a deep furrow whilst a murderous Nazi super-soldier scours the area for them.

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 4 by Daniel Gete

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

Uber: Invasion #2 - Avatar Press

UBER: INVASION No. 2, December 2016

It’s pretty clear from both the seriously solemn pacing and harrowingly grisly subject matter that the script for Issue Two of “Uber: Invasion” “really coalesced” for Kieron Gillen whilst he was walking around the Peace Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. Indeed, considering that the twenty-two page periodical’s plot focuses almost entirely upon the horrific trauma caused to the population of Boston by the invading German’s aerial halo effect, one could so easily believe that the British writer was actually penning a contemporary piece about the uranium gun-type weapon’s destruction of “the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu.” 

Similarly grim and melancholy are the survivor’s stories this comic captures as the author’s well-dressed narrator carefully picks his way through the levelled city’s desolate remains, occasionally pointing out the odd blackened corpse of interest. Horribly marred, their flesh melted to the very bone in places, these ‘eye witness’ accounts are terrifyingly haunting in their authenticity and prove especially disconcerting when the tale’s owners expire as the camera is rolling; “Something about the proximity of the halo effect disrupts brain chemistry.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is little glamour to be had with Gillen’s narrative even when the American’s super-soldiers do arrive, with Eamonn "Razor" O'Conner still clearly suffering from “the old Okinawa combat stress” and haunted by ‘what happened to his brother in Paris’. In fact, this instalment’s sole consolation is that General Groves clearly has a plan to eliminate Siegmund in the same way the Russian’s took the Battleship-class Uber’s arm at Kursk, and, perhaps more importantly, enough “superhuman bodies” with which to enact it.

Terrifically detailed and worryingly adept at pencilling the disfiguring flow of melted flesh over the human body, Daniel Gete’s breakdowns are a disconcerting treat and really do a fine job of imbuing even the most gruesomely impaired inhabitants of Boston’s remnants with pitiable life. Admittedly, many of the artist’s drawings are confined to celluloid-shaped panels in order to help generate a feeling that the reader is watching an old reel of film. But few will surely forget the star-spangled soldier Ray as he nonchalantly describes the Germans moving “across the North Bank of the Charles” as his disembowelled guts bleed out…

The regular cover art of "UBER: INVASION" No. 2 by Daniel Gete

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