Before I get to the new Sgt. Rock 6 issue mini series I should confess that I am a fan, though by no means an expert on war comics. The moral ambiguity of the battlefield has always seemed a rich context from which to explore many of the comic heroic themes of loyalty, bravery, and compassion. Sgt. Rock and Nick Fury were always appealing characters to me due to their no-nonsense direct approach to language coupled with their quick problem solving abilities and cool heads in dangerous times. Sadly, many war comics fall short of their potential, and the art of many of the ones I'm familiar with was not as interesting as the writing.
Sgt. Rock, the Prophecy does not fall into this trap, and Joe Kubert gives us a rare treat of a comic where the graphic elements lend as much to the experience as the fine writing.
The story begins with Rock and the rest of Easy company parachuting into Vilnus, a town in the middle of Lithuania. Lithuania at the time is the meeting ground of German and Russian forces, both of which seem seem to have little regard for the Lithuanian civilians trapped in the fray. The team has been sent to retrieve a "valuable object" that must be taken out of the country. The team meets up with Roskoff, a Lithuanian guerilla whose band of partisans possesses the object Rock and the boys are supposed to take to safety. Issue 1 ends with the revelation that the valuable object is a person covered in purple robes. I assume this character will turn out to be a holy person or prophet, hence the subtitle of the series.
Graphically, I like a lot of the compositional choices Kubert made in this book. His grainy, high contrast style fits the genre well, and he uses it to great effect with lots of partial facial closeups where we see just an eye, or part of a face. The panel layouts are done in an interesting style with some unconventional choices that work exceptionally well (see page 11 for a great course on how to draw out the dramatic effect of a episode using very little text). The use of color is very interesting as well. Kubert of Pete Carlsson use mostly soft muted tones of green, grey, and brown for most the story. Like the moral landscape, the graphic landscape is quite grey, and is punctuated by brighter colors only when we see the orange from an explosion or the red from a soldier's wound. The sparse use of color does a great job of pacing of the story, making the fight scenes seem more active and dramatic than they would had all panels used similar tonal values.
The writing is quite good as well. Rock's crew of soldiers Easy Company is made up of a variety of personalities types that josh and critique each other. It is not clear whether Roskoff and the partisans can be trusted, creating some nice tension in the narrative. Contrasts and complexities abound as for example when Dozer finds and shelters a puppy in his coat as they fight their way through a dangerous and otherwise merciless land.
If you are a fan of war comics to any degree, or the kind of gritty moral complexity of Jonah Hex or Loveless, you are sure to enjoy this series. Aspiring comic artists should also give this one a look as there is much to learn from Kubert's skillful yet subtle choices of color and composition.