Broken Frontier

Sgt. Rock and Easy Company find themselves in trouble deep behind enemy lines, and during the heat of the moment help comes from the unlikeliest of sources.

It’s always fun to take a trip down memory lane and revisit a comic book like Sgt. Rock. The series is now just past the half way point and so far I have been enjoying the revival of DC’s elite war hero and his comrades in arms, the men of Easy Company.

This issue opens with Easy Company leaving an abandoned Nazi prison camp and forging ahead with their escort of David. As they trudge along, the gang falls prey to a minefield and Shorty gets blown to bits because of it. It seems Easy Company have a major hurdle to overcome and fortunately for them young David leads them across safely. Sgt. Rock can’t believe the kid’s faith in God nearly blinded him to the dangers of the minefield, and now to make matters worse the group has walked right into a platoon of German soldiers. Again Rock wonders if God is really on their side with this one too.

The story here seemed a bit stagnant for my tastes, especially since I loved the way writer Joe Kubert handled the immediate danger Easy Company faced last issue. This issue had a much slower pace to it, but it wasn’t all that bad for the most part. I just wanted more action, but the one positive note here is that Joe has such a great handle on all the characters that it’s a treat to read every bit of dialogue. He’s obviously enjoying his return to chronicling the exploits of Easy Company, and after reading the three previous stories and including this one it’s like he never left the book at all.

I can also speak highly of Joe’s art here on the book as well. It’s refreshing to see a talented veteran like Joe Kubert continue to work in mainstream comics, and still be able to put all that passion he had nearly three decades ago into his storytelling. He’s never lost a step and after so many years, he’s still tops in my book for crafting such thrilling war stories. So way to go, Joe!

If you like this older brand of storytelling from the great Joe Kubert then I suggest giving this series a try. It’s a real treat to find hard nosed and honorable heroes like Sgt. Rock still fighting the good fight after all these years. Better yet, it’s even greater to see a comics legend still in action, so now I’ve given you two very good reasons to go out and pick this series up. You won’t be disappointed at all if you do.