Tet #1
Written by Paul Allor
Art by Paul Tucker
IDW Publishing
The first time I scrolled through an issue of Tet the art didn’t grab me.
With a file of possible books to read, and review, I tend to scan, and pass a rather arbitrary ‘yes’ or ‘no’ pretty quickly. The yes’s go into a file to read, the rest languish.
What finally made me give Tet a second chance is simple enough. I’ve always held more than a passing interest in the Vietnam War, which I think traces back to reading The 13th Valley by John M. Del Vecchio way back in 1983.
Whatever dragged me back to Tet I am glad it happened.
As I wrapped myself in issue #1 Paul Tucker’s art, while not becoming amazing, it did work in consort with the story.
And the start of the story in this series by Paul Allor completely grabbed me.
The love story of a GI and a Vietnamese girl. The murder investigation on the eve of the celebration of Tet, and anyone with knowledge of the war knows what happened with the start of Tet.
Mix in some intriguing ‘flash forwards’ and this one quickly jumped into contention for my Top-five of the year, if Allor continues to write this wonderful story at the level of issue #1.
Just buy it.
Mother Russia TBP
Writer by Jeff McComsey
Art by Jeff McComsey
FUBAR
I’m not a fan of zombies in general. The Walking Dead, as an example, is just bad television.
But I was curious about Mother Russia.
Setting the story of zombies in the rubble of Stalingrad in WWII seemed a great idea, as the walking dead would at least be a metaphor for the true horror of the war in that city.
Some of the bloodiest, more horrific battles of the war took place in the streets as the Russian army and city residents refused to cave to a massive German army.
In this story writer Jeff McComsey encapsulates the horror in the guise of mindless zombies.
He then offers a chance at redemption of humanity in a child.
A Russian sniper, safe in a well-stocked tower, risks all to save the child.
It was a plan of courage, but one on the cusp of failure when she and the child are saved by another soldier.
This one a German officer.
The hatred of the war evaporates as they chose to work together for the child.
Amid the bombed out city, humanity manages to triumph.
Whether the child lived, or died, is not something I will share, nor does it ultimately matter. The greatness here is in the enemies rising above the war to undertake the perils of saving a child.
The story works, and so too does McComsey’s black and white art.
Again B&W art doesn’t attract me often, but here, it is just right. The horror of war does not need spurting blood in washes of red to be recognized, felt and shuddered at.
This is a book that deserves a read by any fan of a story that shows the best of what we can be, even in the darkest of places, be that the true battlefields of war, or a tale populated with shambling metaphors.
