Posted on: September 9th, 2010 Comically Challenged: Weird War Tales One-Shot
There have been a whole bunch of war-themed comic books throughout time. They land anywhere between Kanigher and Kubert’s Sgt. Rock to Ennis’s Battlefields. They’ve lifted soldiers’ morale and they’ve brought a harsh realization to civilians. Anyway you look at it, they’re a consistent part of a country’s culture. Weird War Tales originally ran back around the 1970s. It takes the classic battlefront stories and delivers them with a twist. A really cool horror, sci-fi, fantasy twist. This week brought out the one-shot sharing name of the classic comic book series.
I’ve been attending the Memorial Day cemetery service in my hometown for as long as I can remember. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard the poem “In Flanders Field” during my lifetime. Do you know what I’ve never experienced? The poem being recited by a zombie. Until now, anyway. Darwyn Cooke and Dave Stewart open this book with a short story about all the great soldiers and military leaders throughout history and their annual after-life-get-together. They put aside the politics and denominations and just celebrate the thing that they love most. The art of war. Winston Churchill, The Desert Fox, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan and Robert E. Lee just get together for some drinks and shooting. It’s basically like they’re doing their own war-reenactment celebration. It’s a silly story but the perfect way to open the book. It says, “Shit’s going to get weird in this book, but we put that in the title so you really should have seen it coming.”
The next story, by Ivan Brandon with artist Nic Klein, is one about men stationed on a submarine in WWII. Unable to emerge from the water, they are forced to live out the rest of their lives imprisoned in the submersed sub; but for what ever reason, one man is left breathing. Pretty creepy story. Pretty creepy art. Both parties know their way around weird and unsettling.
Lastly, and quite frankly my favorite of the stories, comes Private Parker Sees Thunder Lizards. Written by Jan Strand with Gabriel Hardman on art. This is the tale of Woodrow and Henry, childhood friends in the same unit fighting against the Germans in WWI. Woodrow (Private Parker) has been awfully injured. He’s been blinded and is having a rough time with shrapnel. His friend Henry has decided to stay with him with the unrealistic hope that medical attention will be there soon. Looking back on childhood memories, Henry recalls Woodrow’s fascination with dinosaurs as a kid. To calm the dying man’s nerves, Henry tells Woodrow that the roar of the attacks outside aren’t actually German attacks, they’re dinosaurs attacking the Germans. Well, Woodrow’s delirious from the blood-loss and blind anyway, and in his last moments before death, he sees the dinosaurs. Sad but a nice story. Plus, you get to see a T-rex in a war zone. That doesn’t happen all that often.
I really felt like this was a great resurgence of the original series. There have been a couple of one-shots and mini series throughout the more recent years but none of them have generated enough momentum to make it a regular print again. It’s pretty similar to the Weird Western Tales that most recently got a one-shot revival in Blackest Night. Chances are, this book will be no different than its previous counterparts, but it does make for an enjoyable read.