2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly literate sequential art, July 29, 2008
This review is from: Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy (Paperback)
Joe Kubert wrote and drew "The Prophecy;" it is a riveting story with great literary quality. Kubert avoids being trite in presenting the horrors of war, and keeps well away from glorifying war, but at the same time, shows the need, during WWII for people to defend themselves against tyranny and torture. It is a poignant story, filled with suspicious resistance fighters, traumatized war victims and enemy soldiers, that Easy Company encounters on a grueling mission, wherein they traverse, on foot, war torn and contested lands to deliver an important Jewish religious dignitary.
There are religious overtones, without being pedantic. The march is an amazing journey, a quest. There is action, as well as drama, and the scene where Easy Company is captured by a platoon of Germans, but is ultimately saved by Rock, is gripping. The scene, and story is underscored by Easy's pure confidence in Rock.
There are wonderful poignant scenes as Bulldozer, a big, gruff soldier, adopts a puppy and carries it in his shirt throughout the trek. Bulldozer caring for this little dog is a great device, and though it is time-worn, Kubert uses it very well. Soldiers die in this story, on both sides, with Kubert neither sugar coating the drama, nor exploiting it to make banal statements. The plot moves at a good clip, but retains a moody, noir quality. The mission drives the soldiers, and it drives the story, and Kubert is able to bring the reader along, through the muck, the snow, the danger, and the moments of lightness. You feel like you've been on a journey after you've read it.
Kubert's line and figure work have always been among the best in comics. He makes a tremendous use of blacks, shadow and silouette. The dark, grim, unshaven faces of the men, the intensity in their eyes, is all deepened by Kubert's use of blacks. The art is spare, at times, with powerful imagery, in other places it's detailed, giving the reader a scaffold to explore.
The comic is well colored - by hand, rather than by computer, so the color does not have that cold technical quality. The shadings are far more subtle than in a computer colored comic, so Kubert's illustration work and use of chiascuro creates depth, rather than using bold colorings to create depth that plague so many modern computer colored comics.
The violence in the comic is never gratuitous or gorey, but is used to ramp up the action, and as a backdrop for Kubert's concepts. Kubert explores different themes, about the nature of humanity; the cold suspicion and calculated approach to violence that is necessary in oppressed people's, who must use unconventional means to defeat a stronger enemy. The plight of Jews during WWII as they battled against prejudice, at the same time battling Nazism, and the holocaust. Kubert explores the strength of leadership, what qualities make a good leader, and how a solid leader can get a group of people to achieve beyond their limitations.
Kubert also explores the nature of faith, the power of truth, the importance one person can have in the fight for a cause. He explores the nature of respect for such people, and for faith, but still leaves the reader at the end to make her or his own conclusions.
I cannot recommend this work enough. And I was not much of a fan of war comics, but I have to say "The Prophecy" piqued my interest, and I have looked for more of Kubert's war work because of it. I came to Kubert through Tarzan and Tor, and some of his westerns, so "The Prophecy" really opened my mind to war comics as a valuable form, if handled well.
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