World Of Tanks #5 - Dark Horse Comics

WORLD OF TANKS No. 5, February 2017

Although “ComicWow!”, the media marketing entity dedicated to the comic and gaming industry, were probably correct in their declaration that “Garth Ennis is a legend and an institution among comic writers”, it is extremely doubtful that the Northern Irish-born American’s narrative for Issue Five of “World Of Tanks” played any part in just such a statement. In fact, considering that this twenty-two page periodical’s script gets the title’s leading characters so horribly wrong, such as portraying British Lieutenant Simon Linnet as a cold-blooded killer seemingly capable of murdering unarmed German prisoners simply because they wear skulls on their lapels, it’s hard to reconcile that the Eisner Award-winner had anything to do with the book’s writing at all. It’s certainly tough to recognise Snakebite’s normally calm and compassionate commander as the gun-toting madman who seems determined to mow down “defenceless” soldiers simply because he’s suddenly “had a bellyful of these Nazi savages” and decided to “see how you like it --”

Disappointingly, so disconcerting an alteration in temperament is not just restricted to C Squadron’s new “2 I/C” either, as “Herr Hauptman” and his Panther tank crew also undergo a surprising change in their attitude to the Fuhrer's war, seemingly just because it illogically leads to the title’s two competing antagonists confronting one another at La Belle Bocage. This incredibly unbelievable contrivance really does spoil the publication's realistic ambience, and makes the Wehrmacht officer's decision to conduct repairs on his smoking armoured vehicle in the very village which the British “artillery destroyed on Thursday” an extremely implausible one; especially when he could have tried to follow a “clockwork bootboy” Unterscharfuhrer back to Berlin earlier in the comic. 

Perhaps this “explosive” final edition’s biggest disappointment however, is P.J. Holden’s incredibly inconsistent breakdowns. Admittedly, the “Judge Dredd” artist can pencil an impressive looking tank, and captures Linton’s narrow-eyed, murderous expression when staring down the barrel of a Sten gun perfectly. But his appalling renderings of Karl Kraft’s battered and bruised face, as well as those of all this comic’s supporting cast, really leave a lot to be desired, and can’t help but raise a concern as to just how rushed the penciller was in order to meet this mini-series’ deadline.

Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: P.J. Holden, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh

World Of Tanks #4 - Dark Horse Comics

WORLD OF TANKS No. 4, January 2017

Pushing ever deeper into post D-Day Normandy, “Dark Horse Comics” were arguably perfectly entitled to advertise this twenty-two page periodical as the “exciting penultimate” instalment of their five-issue mini-series “inspired by the massively popular (over 110 million players!) Online game World of Tanks.” True, Garth Ennis’ narrative occasionally labours as a result of some dialogue-heavy discussions amongst the opposing forces’ commanding officers. But the majority of the Northern Irish born American’s writing genuinely seems to capture all the claustrophobic horror of a battle amidst the fatally confining French Bocage, with its harrowing depiction of heavily armoured vehicles either discharging their devastating weapons or themselves exploding into a fiery grave for their unfortunate crew.

Indeed, this tale of a British “charge into a village that’s under attack” by the Third Reich doesn’t even get past its second panel before one the company’s firefly tanks, the first of many as the Allies foolishly trundle alongside a wheat field packed full of camouflaged Panzerfaust teams, is mercilessly “brewed”. It certainly must have been hard for this book’s readers to pause for breath whilst “Linnet and his men” aboard Snakebite outpace and outfight a couple of Stug assault guns, as well as “a mob of Jerry infantry.”

Just as engaging is the Eisner Award-winner’s handling of the battle on foot, as the British Tommies ‘debus’ in order to “winkle” the Germans “out for the Tankies”, and end up literally toe-to-toe with their enemy, matching their carbine rifle against Panzergrenadier knife and stalk hand grenade. Ennis even manages to ‘crowbar in’ a cataclysmic sequence as to the murderous effect upon a Panzer formation by an aerial bombardment; “C-c-c-come back, Ivan. All is forgiven--!” 

All of this volatile violence is competently illustrated by P.J. Holden, with his panels portraying the Allied Sherman tanks finally making a break through a fiery hedge and subsequently trampling the nearby hapless German soldiers, proving particularly well pencilled. Disappointingly however, that doesn’t mean the “Belfast-based comic artist who has drawn for ‘2000 A.D.’” isn’t without his faults, as his awkwardly angular and occasionally doe-eyed facial features, make it almost impossibly hard to tell the difference between the various black beret-wearing Allied officers.

Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: P.J. Holden, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh

World Of Tanks #3 - Dark Horse Comics

WORLD OF TANKS No. 3, December 2016

It’s probably fair to say that quite a few of this “authentic and historically based” book’s 5,645 followers felt acutely misled by “Dark Horse Comics” and their advertising for Issue Three of “World Of Tanks”. For whilst the Oregon-based publisher heavily promoted the fact that this mini-series, “inspired by Wargaming’s massively multiplayer online game”, was the collective work of Garth Ennis and “legendary” artist Carlos Ezquerra, this third instalment of the title’s story-arc set amidst “the war-torn countryside of Normandy” is actually drawn by “Infurious Comics” founder P.J. Holden, rather than the Spanish Inkpot Achievement Award-winner.

Such a dramatic change in look, and therefore feel, to this twenty-two page periodical arguably quite badly damages the impact of its all so serious “gritty” narrative, and dishearteningly, even goes so far as to lessen the impact of a particularly harrowing scene where Hauptman Kraft discovers the Canadian corpses of some unarmed prisoners mercilessly murdered by the ‘children’ of the twelfth S.S. Panzer Hitlerjugend, simply because of how different the German tank commander now looks. Indeed, the two illustrators’ drawing styles are so remarkably dissimilar that it can take the entirety of the comic before its abundantly clear just which of the British senior officers is actually Simon Linnet, or a repeated reading of a nocturnal camp-fire scene in order to ascertain the individual members of Snakebite’s identically dressed crew; “Budd, your appetite for misery never fails to amaze me!”

Perhaps this book’s greatest disappointment however, is that beneath the Northern Irishman’s admittedly competent, yet somewhat cartoony and noticeably inconsistent breakdowns, Ennis has actually penned an incredibly enthralling plot which provides both some wonderful, light-hearted humour in the guise of Kraft being thumped by the giant “bloke running a kampfgruppe full of pretty little blond boys”, and chillingly cold inhumanity, as the facially bruised Hauptman discovers the aforementioned uncovered grave full of brutally slain Allied soldiers. The Holywood-born writer even manages to provide the straight-laced Linnet with a moment of self-doubt and loathing, when the well-educated Englishman realises his men have captured, caught and eaten “a little [French] blind girl’s pet” rooster called Bernard.

Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: P.J. Holden, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh

World Of Tanks #2 - Dark Horse Comics

WORLD OF TANKS No. 2, November 2016

Selling a somewhat demoralising 6,115 copies in November 2016, a figure slightly reduced by “Diamond Comic Distributors” due to its shipment’s returnability, Issue Two of “World of Tanks” arguably must have come as something of an overly-wordy disappointment to fans of the massively multiplayer online (computer) game upon which the series is based. Certainly, Garth Ennis’ script for “Roll Out” lacks any sort of actual action throughout the majority of this twenty-two page periodical; an especially strange situation considering the Northern Irish-born America’s reputation for extreme violence, and the fact the title’s premise is built upon the armoured conflict in Normandy during the Second World War.

Admittedly, the Holywood-born author’s narrative starts off energetically enough, as Simon Linnet’s isolated crew come face-to-face with a German Flak position, and battered British tankers Nobby and Whitey give their lives fighting off a squadron of Panthers. But as soon as ‘Boilermaker’ is destroyed by half a dozen well-aimed shells and Hauptman Kraft finds the time for a swift smoke of a cigarette, all sense of excitement is lost, and instead replaced with a series of dreary conversational pieces concerning British tank engineering, the calling in of “a stonk” after “one of our shufti-kites spotted the fireworks", Karl’s unpopular assignment to support a Waffen S.S. unit, and Corporal Budd’s realisation that ‘Snakebite’ is a training tank…

Such long-winded, supposedly character-driven scenes clearly have an important place in helping to move the Eisner Award-winner’s plot along, particularly when they help clarify precisely why a supposedly experienced tank driver like Trevor inexplicably loses control of a vehicle during a fire-fight and “drives them right off the battlefield!” Yet such sedentary interruptions surely should be interspersed in between the action, and not used to seemingly pad out the rest of the publication just so it can end on something of a dilemma…

Fortuitously, despite being populated by some disconcertingly large and cumbersome-sized speech bubbles, all these dialogue-rich breakdowns are still somehow mesmerizingly pencilled by “legendary illustrator” Carlos Ezquerra. Emotionally-charged and visually wearing their hearts on their sleeves, the Spanish artist’s figures all somehow take on a personality of their own, and help make even the souless Third Reich puppet Munchen's stilted discourse at being the ‘new’ senior battalion commander something of a compelling read.

Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh

World Of Tanks #1 - Dark Horse Comics

WORLD OF TANKS No. 1, August 2016

Publicised as “the first ever comic book based on the Wargaming Battle Universe”, Issue One of “World Of Tanks” certainly lives up to its promise of bringing “all the thrills, tension and armoured conflict” followers of the massively multiplayer online (computer) game would “demand” by quickly pitting the inexperienced “Cromwells and Sherman Fireflies of B Squadron” up against Hauptman Karl Kraft’s seemingly impregnable Panthers of Panzerabteilung 130. Indeed no sooner has Garth Ennis introduced the title’s two main antagonists than Carlos Ezquerra’s breakdowns are littered with explosions, mangled metal and cursing tank men.

Fortunately however, the Holywood-born writer’s narrative for “Roll Out” doesn’t simply consist of meaningless battle sequences designed to help sell “in-game Premium Tank bundles based on the iconic ‘hero’ tanks of the comic book…” But instead marries his “hard-hitting”, somewhat swear-laden storytelling, with plenty of character development too. It’s certainly made abundantly clear that “the man in charge” of the “world’s greatest panzer” is far from your stereotypical Third Reich goon, even if he does wear the notorious Totenkopf symbol on his cap; “The other four (panzers) aren’t in much better shape. They all need complete overhauls. And… Freddy, haven’t we left enough people behind at this point?”

Sadly the same cannot surprisingly be said for the inexperienced Second Lieutenant Simon Linnet, “commanding Number Four troop”, whose disconcertingly cheery disposition and “itching (desire) for a crack at Jerry”, along with that of his incongruently chipper fellow British tank commanders, seems to stem from the worst sort of ‘pip pip’ clichés imaginable. Such trite dialogue definitely brings Wargaming’s Director of Marketing Erik Whiteford’s assurance that their “first priority was ensuring that we told an authentic and historically based tale of combat” under close scrutiny…

Any frustrating concerns by this twenty-two page periodical’s audience as to its script’s hackneyed accuracy though, should have easily been cast aside when one considers the book’s outstanding artwork. Rightfully described by “Dark Horse Comics” as a “legendary illustrator”, Carlos Ezquerra’s pencilling for this comic is as “gritty and… realistic” as any bibliophile would want their “pulse-pounding tank combat” to be, with the Spaniard’s incredible depictions of “seventeen pounders”, “Jabos” and Panthers, all being seemingly imbued with plenty of dynamic energy, movement and danger.

Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh