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Weird War Tales #1
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Various
Art: Various
Cover: Darwyn Cooke
Price: US $3.99
Release Date: September 9, 2010

The classic Sci-Fi/horror war anthology comic book is back!  Come on, let’s go!

***CAUTION: This Review Contains Spoilers!***

“Armistice Night”
Writer/Art: Darwyn Cooke

All these dead warrior and soldier dudes are going to party.  They are going to fight, and they are going to have some fun!  Everybody is here!  Robert E. Lee even hooks Hannibal up with a bottle of whiskey!  General Patton addresses the crowd about the rules.  There’s only one rule to this bash.  No politics and no old grievances.  If they break this rule, they are OUT!  “Just ask Hitler.  He’d tell you…but he’s out!”  There’s the decapitated heads of Erwin Rommel and Winston Churchill sitting on a stump while their bodies try to shoot each other’s heads off the stump.  Joan of Arc uses her bow and arrow to try and shoot an apple off Genghis Khan’s head.  General Patton then calls the group together for one last battle to the “death” to determine next year’s Grand Marshall.  A lone French soldier stands victorious on a defeated heap of bodies, but General Patton smells a rat….

“The Hell Above Us”
Writer: Ivan Brandon
Art: Nic Klein

A war submarine is hit and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.  The crew waits to be rescued.  They don’t have much air left.  In a matter of days, they all die off, save for one.  With no air or food left, he waits for his turn to die, but it never comes.  After thirty years pass, he stops counting.  His prayers of death still go unanswered.  He decides to swim out the hatch, hoping to drown.  Does he drown?  Does he reach the surface?  What will the world be like if he makes it?

“Private Parker Sees Thunder Lizards”
Writer: Jan Strnad
Artist: Gabriel Hardman

American soldiers are behind enemy lines in Veghel.  They have taken it from the Nazis, and now the Nazis are trying to take it back.  One of the American soldiers, Parker, is trapped in a barn.  His life long buddy, Hank, goes in to save him.  He finds his friend wounded and scared.  Hank tries to calm Parker with stories of their childhood and how Parker used to love dinosaurs, while Nazi tanks invade the town.

These three stories are excellent.  Filled with comedy, dread, and innocent wonder, they make this issue well worth the $3.99 price tag.  The only disappointment is spelled out on the cover.  “One-Shot.”

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net