Recommend me a war comic

[Mr White]

I've finally read through all my comics, BD's, strips, ...

I'm in the mood for a comic about war. I read a French comic the other day about the Great war and it was really good. So, would you know any other comics that you recommend, it can be about any war and any period (historical accuracy is a plus).

Thanks in advance.

[chiasaur11]

Showcase Presents Sgt. Rock.

Old DC comic about WW Deuce. Cheap, big, a bit formulaic, but the art is gorgeous. Surprisingly high bodycount for the time, too.

[Satyr]

Pretty much everything from Jacques Tardi is very good, grim and dark but very good. Most WW I stuff, but it is truly great. And depressing. And then there is Watz with Bashir.

[comicshorse]

Charley's War- a comic about a young and naive young soldiers experience in WW1
It was originally published in 4 page strips in Battle comic in England but has been gathered together in collections by Titan comics ( I think)

Garth Ennis did a series of one-shot comics about WW2 that were gathred together under the heading War Stories. He's recently started doing 4 part WW2 stories: "The Tankers" ( about a british tank operating in France during the later part of the war), " The Night Witches" ( about female russian fighter pilots) and " Dear Billy" ( about a nurses experience in war in the pacific theatre)

[JonestheSpy]

Also Garth Ennis's single issue story "Condors" is a brilliant meditation on war and what draws men to it (and the ones who have it forced upon them).

[Mr White]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

@ satyr:
I've actually been looking for a while for Jacques Tardis' "the real story of an unknown solider". I'll find it eventually.
I've seen the 'Waltz with bashir'-comic but I'll probably watch the animation as that's the original work AFAIK.

Garth Ennis also looks interesting.

[Dirk Anger]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Garth Ennis also looks interesting.

Yeah, I'll back up the previous recommendation for Ennis' War Stories. I picked up the first volume at the store a while back on a whim, and it was way better than it probably should have been.

Each story is less than fifty pages, but they all vary wildly, except the theme of war. There are tales of every front in WW2, and the themes grappled with extend from guilt, to loyalty, to horror.

Ennis is both funny and great at doing violent war scenes, be it naval or from the bowels of a tank. Reading any of the stories, it's obvious that he's really passionate about war and he's making these books for the satisfaction, not the cash.

[Killer Angel]

Gone with the blastwave (http://www.blastwave-comic.com/index.php?p=comic&nro=1)

funny webcomic, follows the activities of two soldiers, a sniper and a flamethrower operator of the Red Army. They are fighting in a post-nuclear warzone against soldiers of the the Yellow Army and the Blue Army.
Obviously, it's not historical, but still interesting.

[comicshorse]

Posted by JonestheSpy

Also Garth Ennis's single issue story "Condors" is a brilliant meditation on war and what draws men to it (and the ones who have it forced upon them).

That was one of the stories collected together in the War Stories Collection.
I just did a quick check there were two collections each containing 4 seperate stories. Condors is in the second collection

[Dr.Epic]

I'd suggest Bone. It's kind of like the Hobbit except with cartoon characters existing alongside of real people. Stupid Rat Creatures indeed!

[Mr White]

Gone with the blastwave (http://www.blastwave-comic.com/index.php?p=comic&nro=1)

Yeah, I've read that one allready. Not really what i'm looking for but nice as a quick read.

[Tavar]

Well, Maus is really, really good. More about the Holocaust than the war, but the two are pretty interconnected.

[Walrus]

I second (or third, or however many people have suggested it) Garth Ennis' War Stories. Great, great pair of books. I'd love to see him do more of those.

Charley's War is also fantastic. The writing is a little arch, but the art is just flat-out gorgeous.

The new Unknown Soldier series from Vertigo is great as well, although maybe a little bit outside of what you're looking for. It's set in 2002, during the Ugandan Civil War. Very intense.

[celticbushido]

My advice would be to find anything featuring the losers, or the ORIGINAL Suicide Squad. I'm not talking Amanda Waller here the first group of soldiers to bear the name were intense and pioneering. The idea that this group of men put their bodies and lives on the line everyday, knowing that each mission was potential suicide, just because it was the right thing to do. Very intense very good stuff. The Losers was pretty fun, I especially like their trip to Dinosaur Island. Also I would check out Phantom Tank, some really fun stories there.

[Satyr]

The Artesia books deal almost exclusively with warfare and witchcraft. They also include many nude people.

[Mr White]

Well, Maus is really, really good. More about the Holocaust than the war, but the two are pretty interconnected.

I've read both novels. The mix between the drama of the holocaust and the humor of the artist's everyday life worked really well.

I'm definatly reading Ennis if I can find some of his work.

I'm also a bit concerned with the discription of beeing intense and pioneering. I've found out that the American comicbooks notion of intense, isn't mine. I don't really care for made-up/overemphasized drama.
Same goes for pioneering. Let me take the example of watchmen. In it's time it was certainly pioneering but now it just feels incredible outdated to me. I don't care so much if a comic did something new, I rather read a comic that does something very well.

Lastly, I'll probably take a look for the Artesia-series. The description reminds me qua setting a bit of Tyndall (warfare, witchcraft, intrigues and an amazing representation of 17th-18th century warfare), one of my favourite fantasy comics.

[Horrorshow]

I really enjoyed Punisher: Born by Garth Ennis. It's about Frank Castle's final days in Vietnam and the start of his transformation into the fully psychopathic vigilante we all know and love. Lots of ":smallfurious:", some ":smallfrown:", quite a bit of ":smalleek:", and an overall satisfaction rating of ":smallbiggrin:."

[chiasaur11]

My advice would be to find anything featuring the losers, or the ORIGINAL Suicide Squad. I'm not talking Amanda Waller here the first group of soldiers to bear the name were intense and pioneering. The idea that this group of men put their bodies and lives on the line everyday, knowing that each mission was potential suicide, just because it was the right thing to do. Very intense very good stuff. The Losers was pretty fun, I especially like their trip to Dinosaur Island. Also I would check out Phantom Tank, some really fun stories there.

Ah, nothing says hard hitting like The War Time Forgot.

It's available in a phone book sized trade. Worth a look if you don't mind dinosaurs eating dudes.

[darkblade]

It is rather hard to find because so few stores carry it and DC is bad about reprinting trades any of the Enemy Ace comics.

Best damn fighter pilot comics ever written.

[chiasaur11]

It is rather hard to find because so few stores carry it and DC is bad about reprinting trades any of the Enemy Ace comics.

Best damn fighter pilot comics ever written.

There is a Showcase presents, I think. 11.55 on Amazon US. 500 pages. Good deal.

[FoE]

The Unknown Solider, the version published in 2008. Haunted House put out a trade that contains the first six issues.

[nyarlathotep]

Deff Sqwardon (not sure on the spelling) was good but probably not serious enough for what you're looking for. It's a bunch of ork pilots being orks.