Customer Reviews

Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & a Hard Place

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Artist Joe Kubert doing Sgt Rock again...for most fans of the original Rock of Easy Company, that is all you need to say. And Between Hell and a hard place, it is a graphic delight.

War comics were a staple of DC and Marvels comic line (Rock, Haunted Tank, The Losers, Unknown Soldier for DC, Sgt Fury for Marvel)in the 1960-1990's. Then suddenly they (like the Westerns genre) vanished from the comic lines-to be overtaken by the Superheroes with their Crisis's, Secret Wars and now their Civil Wars

With writing talent of Brian Azzarello (from the comic 100 Bullets) and Kubert at the pen, This taut graphic novels is both a tribute to the DC war line and a great visual tale. It is also like it harkens back to the days of Bob Kanigher (writer) and Kubert (inks) in the orginal Our Army at War books.
It is a war story with a mystery thrown in and it works on many levels

If you haven't read Sgt Rock before, dont worry...you wont be lost-Azzarello reintroducers the reader to Rock and his Easy Company. The art seems almost like a movie flying outta the books. This isn't a KID's comic book, it is WAR with all the dirt and grit. It is not pretty, but it is great storytelling

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

I used to love comics like sgt. rock and g.i. combat as a kid, and this hardcover novel really brought me back. A great story, great art, it had me holding my breath like i was a kid again! I wish they would do a graphic novel like this for the unknown soldier, jeb stuart, all of the old war comic greats...

I came of age during the 1960s, when the foreboding
glare of the previous decade's McCarthyism gave way
to both the hope of a new day's tolerance, and the
despair that Peace and Justice didn't come all at
once.
Vietnam was a deadly cancer of that despair, but
that misguided conflict was but a terrible symptom
of the larger conflict waged within our hearts
between ethical clarity and convenient viewpoints.
The names may be different from Nixon, Faubus,
Falwell and Hoover, and many of the places are a
distance from Southeast Asia, but make no mistake:
That conflict, as old as Creation, still wages as
hotly today within and without our minds and our
souls.

What, you may ask, does all this have to do with
a fresh tale about an Army Sergeant from World
War II? In the vertigo of 1960s comics, much fuss
was stirred over a war comic at Marvel, about a
bunch of superheroes in khakis who whooped it up
whenever they went into battle. Interesting band
that SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMNADOS
were, they never quite came across as soldiers.
Even when the element of Death was introduced
into their narrative, it always came across as
an afterthought for the sake of plot, never as
the grim, steady product that War is so efficient
at producing.
A purely 1960s production, SGT. FURY would
be eclipsed by the looming landscape of
the very real, highly traumatic real-life
subject painting a deadlier drama on the
day's nightly news than anything the Howlers
breezed through.

Over at DC, however, War was depicted as the
nasty business that it has always been. No flag-
waving propaganda machine here, the War comics
which came from DC (ENEMY ACE, THE LOSERS, OUR
FIGHTING FORCES, etc.) always depicted the blunt
& ugly reality of what a dirty business War
is, and how the only good of War is in its
ending.
The tales of SGT. ROCK and EASY CO. rank as
pinnacles of this genre, its original tales by
author Robert Kanigher and illustrator Joe Kubert
a worthy complement to the 1940s chronicles of
master cartoonist Bill Maudlin, and his tireless
reporting of what was happening with ordinary
Joes sweating it out on the Front.
Laughter in the midst of despair, courage in the
crucibles of white-hot fear, compassion delivered
in tension-filled moments between blood to be
spilled and turf to be held. All this and more
spell the exploits of EASY CO. and its battle-
tested non-com; getting it done in the hope that,
maybe, they'll live to get home.

This is the powerful heart that beats through
BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE, the gripping
DC/Vertigo Sequential Novel which places ROCK
and EASY in the thick of even deeper conflict,
with burning questions about prisoner abuse and
combat honor which are as pertinent in days of
holy terror and oil-pimping as it was in the
days of "good wars".
Acclaimed Vertigo Editor Karen Berger brought
the legendary Joe Kubert aboard for a new project
on SGT. ROCK, some 45 years after co-creating
the character! It was Kubert who suggested a
hardcover graphic novel, as well as the choice
of Brian Azzarello to write this chronicle.

Kubert couldn't have picked a more versatile author
to upgrade the gritty exploits of EASY. Widely
renowned for his award-winning film noir-rooted
crime drama, 100 BULLETS, Azzarello is as at home
writing about the cosmos-spanning derring-do of
SUPERMAN as he is denoting the driven manipulations
of LEX LUTHOR, or spinning the gangbanging urban
blight confronted by LUKE CAGE.
Anyone thinking that Azzarello's work with recognized
characters is a sell-out, a watering-down of his edgy
style needs to stop looking for trends to proclaim or
fall into, and read the man's work. All of it.

Kubert, one of the giants of Sequential literature,
displays the depth of his finely-chiseled pictorals
in his return to one of his most famous characters.
In the years since his last SGT. ROCK tale, the
creator of TOR, co-creator of WWI's RITTMEISTER
von HAMMER,and acclaimed interpreter of HAWKMAN
and TARZAN established a world-renowned school
for Cartoon and Graphic Art, conceived two
exceptional books on the horrors of Hate and
shapings of War (FAX FROM SARAJEVO and YOSSEL:
APRIL 19, 1943 ), and has witnessed two of his
children grow up to master the Sequential field
for which he has given so much over the long
decades.

Each man brandishes the full dynamic range of their
expressive wizardry to conceive a tough-minded,
heart-gripping tale of conflict, the camaraderie it
breeds, the wariness always at one's shoulder, and
the awful shock of what one moment can tear asunder.
Films such as Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and
Samuel Fuller's THE BIG RED ONE are aptly reflected
in this saga's earthy dialogue and sharp intrigues,
but BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE is far more than a
mirror of post-WWII cinematic recollection.

In BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE, we bear witness
to the communicative power that this idiom can command.
For longtime readers, you will see familiar
characters dealing with familiar horrors as never
before. For new readers, a more honest depiction of
conflict is at your grasp.
When a casual conversation takes place amidst a
freshly-discovered mine field, we lose the privilege
of taking any moment for granted. In an explosive
outburst of temper, we feel the madness that sane
people must court in surmounting insane situations.
In a pivotal exchange between a haughty aristocrat
and a weather-beaten grunt, a captured woman's
fate projects the true folly and utter pointlessness
of War as a bearer of Truth.
The only Truth about War, whether for the warrior,
the conquered, or the pacifist, is that it's raw
Hell. Once more, the exploits of EASY CO. bring
this brutal Truth home with rock-steady clarity.

If the earliest signs on Kubert's 2006 project,
SGT. ROCK: THE PROPHECY, are any indication,
the clarity which distinguished BETWEEN HELL
AND A HARD PLACE will become even more
dangerously crystal-clear.
For a world too often befuddled by peril
cloaked in comfortable catch-phrases, economic
spin doctoring, and murderously comforting
prejudices, such clarity has never been more
desperately needed than right now.

Simply put, if you love the art form and are a fan of movies like Kelly's Heroes, The Dirty Dozen, and especially recent outings like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this is for you.
The art is great, as should be expected from a true master such as Kubert. Comparing this to his previous work on the characters (back in the 70's), you can see how much he has grown as an artist. It's classic Kubert through and through.
Give it a shot, especially at the price they're offering here.

Joe Kubert's and Brian Azzarello's Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place is a masterpiece of story and visual scope. The long awaited reprise of Sgt. Rock from comic book obscurity has become a harrowing tale of loss, combat, and survival for Rock and the men of Easy Company. Brian Azzarello's story is the deepest and grittiest that Sgt. Rock has been in yet. Joe Kubert again takes up his pen for Sgt. Rock, but the dark visual style of Between Hell and a Hard Place differs greatly from Sgt. Rock's escapades in G.I. Combat. This difference in styles only helps to deepen the mystic and grandiosity of Sgt. Rock. The gritty portrayal of World War II in the Hurtgen forest during the winter of 1944 becomes reflected in the gritty, dark textures of Kubert's artistic style.
The story in Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place differs a great deal from the Sgt. Rock of earlier publications. Kubert and Azzarello's Sgt. Rock is not the headstrong, invincible, moral leader that appears in issue of G.I. Combat. Instead, they portray Sgt. Rock as a tortured character trying to survive the war, do his duty to his country, and bring his boys home safe. The conflicting sides of Sgt. Rock are only deepened by the duality of the story. Between Hell and a Hard Place opens on two soldiers discussing one of their promotions to Sergeant and then Lieutenant. The short exchange sets the tone for the rest of the book. The soldier was not promoted on merit, but merely because, "I stayed alive." The short exchange is followed by the main issue that Sgt. Rock tackles throughout the book.
Rock and his squad stumble upon a pillbox with four S.S. officers while on patrol. They charge the machine gun taking the officers as prisoners. On their way back to base, the squad is ambushed and in the heat of battle, they lose track of their prisoners. Once Sgt. Rock and his men take control of the situation they discover that all but one of their prisoners had been killed at point blank range. The rest of the novel plays out with Sgt. Rock and his men trying to find their lost prisoner, and find out who killed the other three. The issue that Sgt. Rock finds himself conflicted with throughout the novel is his duty to his men and they duty of finding out who murder his prisoners in cold blood. Another Sergeant that Sgt. Rock encounters in the book sums up the issue best when he says, "They were Germans. What happened to `em - Boiled down? It's what we're here to do."
The story of Between Hell and a Hard Place is not just reserved for the legendary Sgt. Rock, however. He makes his return to the comic book pages with his, just as legendary, Combat-happy Joes. While Sgt. Rock's Combat-happy Joes have a large roster, only four appear in this novel. Bulldozer, Rock's second in command, plays the role of the huge, menacing brute on the battlefield. His character, however, does not reflect his size. As the novel says, he was, "Big as an ox with a heart to match." Wildman, the red bearded history professor from Colorado, takes up arms again to follow Rock into battle. Little Sure Shot, the Apache sharp shooter, silently follows in the shadows and keeps an eye on the rest of Easy Company. The final soldier in Rock's squad is the Ice Cream Soldier so named because he is cool in any situation. Other soldiers in the form of "green" replacements accompany Sgt. Rock in the Hurtgen forest, but being a replacement in the world of Easy Company and Sgt. Rock means that you don't last long.
Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place paints Sgt. Rock in a new light, far different from the Sgt. Rock of G.I. Combat. The conflicted Easy Company grows as the book progresses only to realize that, rather than country or family, they only have each other to help them survive. Sgt. Rock is not just the invincible, combat hungry veteran, but he has grown into a new conflicted leader who commands his soldiers to survive, not to obtain glory. This is not to say that the entire novel is a dark twisted tale of morality; it is still full of the action packed, over the top moments in combat that one comes to expect from any story with Sgt. Rock and the men of Easy Company.

Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place is a passable graphic novel authored by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Joe Kubert.

Azzarello's writing is solid but doesn't give enough historical flavor. Garth Ennis' Enemy Ace: War In Heaven plunges the reader into the Second World War with memorable characters, fascinating facts and actual events. Azzarello's writing captures the cadence and lingo of the War but doesn't go far enough.

The plot here is interesting but ends disappointingly.

Joe Kubert's art is very good but not his best work. Joe is around 70 years old so I'm sure age has affected his art somewhat. His work is still pretty great but I'm spoiled by the classic Joe Kubert art.

This book will satisfy hardcore fans but let down casual buyers.

A must have for any SGT. Rock fan, or anyone who is crazy about WW2.

It's not Kubert's best work, but it is still very funny. Although its a little bit like a rough, crude drawing, it fits this book very well. And what can I say about Azzarello's writing? He does a great job with this mistery war tale.

I've never seen a "Sgt. Rock" comic previous to this, but I am a casual fan of graphic novels and have a casual interest in World War II, so I figured it was worth checking out. After spending an hour reading it cover to cover, I have to admit to a certain level of disappointment. Azarello, whose writing I've liked in the "100 Bullets" series, has come up with a generally compelling story. Sgt. Rock's "Easy Company" is in the Hurtgen Forest (near the German/Belgian border) in late 1944, where the largely routed German Army was able to mount a surprisingly stiff resistance. Down to its core membership, the company has greenhorn replacement soldiers foisted upon it, much to Rock's displeasure. The storyline involves the capture of four SS officers, three of whom are murdered while being escorted back to headquarters. This sets up some tension among the company, since it's not clear who killed them, and some of the soldiers are of the opinion it was murder (since their hands were bound), and others don't. Meanwhile, there's a town that needs taking...

This is all well and fine, but I just didn't find Kubert's art that compelling. Since he set the standard for the "Sgt. Rock" look, he obviously answers to no one when it comes to how the story should look. However, I found both the composition and coloring very weak. I suppose his style is best described as "classic", but I find it far too simplistic and lacking in detail and texture. Everything's very flat, and the washed-out color palate doesn't help. A story set in the Hurtgen ought to be dark, gloomy, scary (the characters even talk about how dark and hard to see it is), but everything is colored in really light shades and looks like it's been lit up with spotlights. Kubert's working in a very restrained paneling system, which is fine, but it really puts the onus on the composition, and most of these are dull as ditchwater. There are probably around 750 panels in the book, and only about 15-20 really arrest one's attention.

If this sounds a little harsh, well, it may be that the standard for depicting World War II combat has gotten very high. "Saving Private Ryan" started the ball rolling, and then there was "The Thin Red Line" and then the truly amazing "Band of Brothers" series. Each of these had their cheezy moments, but "Band of Brothers" especially showed that there was no glory to be won in war, and showed the fighting in the German forests in a much more evocative manner. Granted, it's unfair to compare different mediums, but the truth is that "Band of Brothers" hits you in the gut with its grittiness and this doesn't. Those looking for a for a very good novel on the same material should check out Twilight Zone maestro Richard Matheson's early novel, "The Beardless Warriors", which follows a raw recruit for two weeks as his unit pushes through the German woods.