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  • Franka Avatar

    The Lion & The Eagle

    Coming off last week’s Garth Ennis Judge Dredd recommendation, I thought I would point toward something that is relatively new.

    What many non-US audiences probably don’t know about Garth Ennis is probably his love for war comics. Part of what he is doing nowadays after the immense success of Preacher and the Boys is visiting and contributing to that love. He restarted the Battle Pictures Weekly called Battle Action at Rebellion (the same organization currently behind 2000AD) and he also wrote The Lion & The Eagle with AfterShock Comics, beautifully drawn by PJ Holden and magnificently colored Matt Milla.

    The Lion & The Eagle might have been lost to the tales of time because it was during the period that AfterShock started going bankrupt. Thus, a lot of news around these four issues would probably have been drowned out by that event. Neverthless, if you didn’t pick it up the first time around I can highly recommend it.

    The Lion & The Eagle depicts a group of British soldiers in the Pacific Theater during World War II to retake Burma from the Japanese. It’s very layered and shows how the British Empire was organized and how they used soldiers from their colonies. Plus, Ennis does a great job to make sure he doesn’t romanticize war as this could be tricky with war comics today (especially outside of the United Kingdom) and The Lion & The Eagle definitely stays away from making war black and white. In addition, PJ Holden does an incredible job depicting the violence while making sure it does not go over the top and to the more campy/grindhouse side a la Quentin Tarantino.

    And really the star of this, in my opinion, is PJ Holden. Holden is one of my favorite artists working today and he does a lot of incredible work. One of my favorite things he does for 2000AD in Judge Dredd’s world is definitely Noam Chimpsky. Noam Chimpsky is a super smart ape who uses his super-intelligence to try to thwart the overall system of oppression, propped up by the Judges. Chimpsky sees things that no one else can see in the Big Meg and it’s always great when he drops in on the weekly prog.

    Even when I do not get him in a particular year, I will also have a PJ Holden dose, every Halloween, because I re-read Soul Plumber from DC Comics. I have the collected version but Holden’s style is very appropriate for the message and style of the book. I absolutely do not want to give anything away about Soul Plumber because it was one of those experiences that I thought I knew what was coming but then I didn’t. And now I can remember that experience every single year.

    So there you have it folks. What started out as a Garth Ennis recommendation quickly turned into a PJ Holden tribute and love letter. That’s how these things go. And to put the final touches on my obsession with Holden, I decided to whip up a portrait of him after scanning his Blusky account. Yes it’s that bad. Plus, his account is charming and I can heartily recommend that you follow him. He currently is redefining himself as an actor. Nuff said.

    Bis bald,

    -Franka

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  • Marv Avatar

    31 – The Meeting

    Ahh yes. The so-called ‘climax’ has been reached. Curt and Garth Ennis met and it did not turn out like Curt expected. Now granted, this is from Curt’s point of view and I have had the pleasure of meeting many Irishmen in my day. I can say that they were all very clean speaking and I can’t remember one using a swear word. At least from what I could understand at the time. Indeed, the Irish are charming and I’m sure Garth Ennis was/is as well.

    Now, I think the shock probably had something to do with Curt’s choice of cosplay. When ‘Arseface’ first appeared, it was a very (one of many!) shocking moment for me in Preacher when I read it in real time, for the first time. I remember lifting my head up, looking out into the distance and allowing that epiphany to inject itself in my brain. ‘This is what comics can do. And perhaps what they are meant to do.’

    Ennis and the late legend Steve Dillon really did not hold back on this series. They pushed the envelop, and just when you think they couldn’t push it anymore, they pushed it even further. And just when you thought the envelop would fall off the table, you realized there wasn’t a damn table to begin with. That’s how good this series was.

    I don’t recommend Preacher for everyone. But it is a highly entertaining and easily digestible series. Also, because it is so darn popular you can find many printings of this series. I know DC will finish up its new printing of Absolute Preacher when the third and final volume is released in October or so. And as I said, it shows you what comics can do and why they can do it better than other forms of entertainment out there today. Preacher lives rent free in my head and I’m glad to see it does for Franka as well.

    For Curt? Well, I don’t think he understood it to begin with. But let’s keep reading to find out!

    Ciao,

    -Marv

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