Broken Frontier

The audience finally learns what everyone was searching for; and in typical Garth Ennis fashion, no one escapes his wrath.

The reader followed last issue as the 3 military groups: Russians, British, and American, all converged on a downed American plane in Afghanistan. First the British arrived and wiped out the Russian army, and then the Americans showed up and destroyed the British. Neither the British nor Russian survivor truly understood what they were looking for, nor why the Americans simply opened fire on them and the nearby Afghani village. This issue finally gives some insight as to what was really going on, as the lone surviving Brit and Russian individually decide to leave their hiding places and attempt a last ditch effort to defeat the Americans.

Garth Ennis is known for a few things with his writing. His books are known to be incredibly violent. He’s known to infuse a biting humor and wit to his characters and dialogue. And mostly, he’s known to hold nothing sacred. Well, all of those characteristics are very present in this series. If you are a fan of Garth Ennis’ writing (or have never read his stuff but like the just given description) you will not be disappointed. The violence in this issue is less than the previous one, but the few glimpses of it are given with the typical Ennis combination of humor and horror. His writing in this issue remains on point. He captures the motivation of each character without being too wordy and gives great insight into the motivation of the characters. One could complain that a particular sequence is a little too reminiscent of a scene from his original Punisher maxi-series, but it was well written then and it remains well written here. But, perhaps his greatest achievement with the book is that, even though he tells the story with the Russian as the main character, he never asks his audience to sympathize with him. Instead of having inner monologue from the leader of the Russian troop, the audience is given an omniscient narrator telling the story, giving the audience a series of anti-heroes and deadly villains, all of which makes it easier for the reader to enjoy the fate that will eventually befall the characters.

Jacen Burrows may not be known to mainstream readers, but with the work he has put in on this book he may soon be.  His work compliments Ennis’ script in a way that reminds one of Ennis’ more famous collaborator, Steve Dillon.  He captures all the facial features and emotions that an Ennis script will demand to show the effects of the extreme violence on the characters.  At first glance his work may seem simple, but the line work is clean, crisp, and surprisingly detailed.  The people, uniforms, guns, planes, and landscapes all look realistic without feeling like a photograph.  But he wouldn’t have been chosen to illustrate this book if he couldn’t capture the violence.  He does this with marvelous aplomb.  The few action scenes he has in this book are brilliantly rendered, once again with the beauty in the details (make sure to check for the bone protruding from the skin!) as Burrows proves he knows exactly how to highlight each scene for maximum effect.

This issue marks the end of Part 1 of the story.  If Part 1 could be seen as Ennis positioning his chess pieces for the rest of the story, one can only imagine what he has planned in Part 2, as he goes for the kill (pun intended).  If excessive violence and a wicked sense of humor is your cup of tea, then go pick up this book.  It has been and will surely continue to be one hell of a ride.

- Sam Moyerman