Sara

In the cold winter of 1942, the second winter in the siege of Leningrad, Soviet sniper Sara and her seven female comrades are fighting against the Nazi invaders. At this point in the war the Russians are losing the battle. As the fighting intensifies, Sara's squad wonders if they can survive the turbulence of war. As women they know what will happened to them if they are taken prisoner and all of them vow not to be taken alive. The women try to make headway in the war by effecting one kill at a time. Sara is the undisputed best sniper. She has become a legend in the minds of the Nazis, which the sniper team learned about from a German prisoner of war. The Germans say she has killed over 300 soldiers but Sara disputes the number. 

This is a classic war story. The book combines six issues of a comic by the same name and it is based on a true story. We see the horrors of war here with our heroine booby trapping dead Nazi soldiers with grenades. When the Nazis find these bodies they will turn them over, activating the grenade and killing themselves. It's an easy way for Sara's kill numbers to rise.  We also see the Sara character changing as the war continues during the year.  When the village that her family resides in is destroyed by the Nazis, she becomes totally focused on killing as many of them as she can. She becomes a ruthless and efficient killer. We also see Sara talking to herself as she focuses her gun on the Nazi soldiers that she plans on killing. She takes her time before firing to ensure that her position is not spotted by Nazi snipers and becoming a target herself. 

Sara is an impressive narrative of soldier's lives fighting for survival on the Eastern Front in WWII.  5 out of 5 stars.

Idle Days

Idle Days is the story of Jerome Beauvais, a deserter from the Canadian Forces during WWII. After his defection his mother sends him to live with his grandfather in a remote house in the woods. Jerome is helping his grandfather renovate the house. After learning that the prior owner killed herself and set fire to the place, Jerome sets out to learn all that he can about the history of the home.  While Jerome works on the house, he feels more and more isolated. He has to remain hidden from the neighbors lest he be discovered. There are posters around town offering a cash reward for turning in deserters. Listening to the radio daily with his grandfather, Jerome's ghosts from combat appear and haunt his thoughts. 

Idle Days is an engaging story.  The reader can feel Jerome's pain but I could not help but dislike him. Because he was serving in WWII, a war much more important than Vietnam, Korea and some others, I did not like that he deserted his post. WWII was a war over the continuation of life as we knew it. No one should have declined to serve. Including women. That said, this is a well told story. Many of the comic book panels did not have dialogue and it was easy to "read" what was the meaning contained in them. The dialogue itself presented Jerome's inner thoughts ably. Although Jerome's conversation with his grandfather was stilted, I thought that the combination of their dialogue with the illustrations was executed skillfully.

The artwork was drawn in comic book panels and colored in deep dark oranges, reds and browns. I presume that  illustrator Simon Leclerc used this pallette to enhance the sense of isolation that Jerome was feeling. Even when Jerome was walking in the open forest, he felt the confinement of the darkness in the forest during the rare evenings when he left the cabin.  

  

Idle Days is a fantastic graphic novel.  I highly recommend it to comic book fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

Double Walker

I found Double Walker confusing while I read it. The author states at the end of the book that is a story based on his fears and anxieties. The story opens with Cully and Gemma, a couple who are watching their carefree, childless days coming to an end. Gemma is pregnant with their first child. They decide to take one final trip before the birth and travel to the Scottish Highlands where a bizarre string of murders is occurring. What was confusing for me was the plethora of Scottish fairy tales discussed among the characters. It was hard to tell what was myth and what was really happening. The residents of the island spoke alot about the fairies as real people and the fairies taking babies away so that they can replace them. After I read a few reviews of the comic I understood the plot premise better and reread the book. It then made sense.  

My feelings for the book are mixed. Once I understood what was happening I liked it but the fact that I had to go online to figure this one out is a big negative for me. It's horror, fantasy and myth combination is not what I typically read, hence my confusion. However, I know that many comic fans are going to love it so I am not going to rate this book. You either like this genre or you don't. I will let you, the reader, decide.

Red Team Volume 1

Volume One, Season One contains parts 1 through 7 of Garth Ennis' Red Team comic. It is an engaging murder mystery that also portrays police corruption. Red Team is the story of four members of a Major Crimes Unit in the New York Police Department. Eddie Mellinger, Trudy Giroux, Duke Wylie and George Winburn have been very successful catching drug lords and other crooks with their meticulous surveillance.  However, they have been unsuccessful for two years in their pursuit of drug dealer Clinton Days. In the process they eliminated most of Days' competition. When the team finds out that Days has arranged the murder of a fellow NYPD cop, they decide to kill him. After the murder, the group meets and decides to continue killing suspects but only the worst ones in the city. These are the criminals who would probably kill many other people.

Red Team is a good book for sitting back and unwinding after a busy day. The story pulled me in from the start and kept me reading until I was finished. With the suspense level ratcheted up in each section, the pace was exceptionally fast. The reader does not get to know the characters much as the plot action takes precedence over character development. It is, simply, a great crime fiction story.

Cop story lovers will want to read this. 5 out of 5 stars.  

The Pull

The Pull is a sci-fi comic book series written by Steve Orlando. It contains comics 1 through 6 in this one graphic novel format. The Pull is part of TKO Studios' third wave of complete comic book miniseries that they published in November, 2020. Artist Ricardo Lopez and colorist Triona Farrell also contributed to this comic. 

When the unstoppable cosmic force of the Undoer threatens the existence of Earth, Brenton Demm, a disgraced government agent, must shake off a lifetime's worth of regret if he is going to save everyone. Demm is one of Earth's thirteen super-science police, and with his ex-wife Gayano Tith, they are Earth's only hope for survival. With days left until the Undoer swallows the Earth, Tith can stop the Undoer as long as Demm can keep her alive. However, there is a catch. Ever since Demm's glory hounding caused a disaster that killed hundreds and put Earth on the Undoer's radar, he's been clinically incapable of giving a damn. Disaffected, corrupt, but still looking for a glint of hope in his last days, Demm finds it when Tith tells him the world doesn't have to end. Demm just has to get back to work. 

There is a political message here. The story concerns what happens when people refuse to deal with the effects of fossil fuels on our planet, referred to as "hard heat" in the story. Demm, as one of the thirteen police officers, is empowered by a newly discovered energy source called marbleite. Tith finds out that the energy marbleite releases will undoubtedly attract the attention of the Undoer, who wants to end all life on earth. Tith's father cannot handle the dread of annihilation so he forms a doomsday cult and makes plans for the cult to commit mass suicide.  Demm tries to stop the plan but is unable and he is traumatized by the experience. The story then picks up one year later when the earth has six days left before the Undoer ends life as we know it. The characters in the story discuss whether they can continue forging a future given the current dark times and with street drug usage at an all time high. Of course the street drug in this story is a little funky and is called the "big finish."  The drug brings about a "sexual euthanasia that brings user's lives to a climactic end." The characters are, essentially, f'ing themselves to death.

I enjoyed the story but did not like being preached to. Even though I agree with the political message, The Pull went too far with its spreading of the gospel.  3 out of 5 stars.