Johnny Red #1 is an impressive relaunch of a classic war comic, combining a compelling story, high-impact action sequences, and attention to the details of both characters and machines. Ennis, Burns, and Wordie seem to be the prefect team for this book, which is one of those rare jewels where writer, artist, and colorist are so beautifully in sync that they feel like a single creator. As a prologue to the larger series, the book works wonderfully. You will be hooked, and eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Johnny Red #1

Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Keith Burns
Colors: Jason Wordie
Release Date: Wed, November 4, 2015

Hello and welcome to the inaugural post of “C’est la Guerre,” a new, regular column here at FreakSugar dedicated to war comics. Every other week this column will feature news, reviews, and interviews on war comics past and present, as well as some deeper looks into the genre itself examining why it endures, and why war comics remain such an important and vibrant strain of graphic narrative. So much for the introduction – let’s get down to business.

War comics are currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity worldwide, but in the US and UK, one could be forgiven for thinking that this has largely been driven by the work of one man: Garth Ennis. The influence of the genre on Ennis’ work is well known, and since the late 1990s, he has become the creator most associated with war comics in the (semi-) mainstream industry, where his success with projects like Hellblazer (Vertigo, 1991 – 1997), Hitman (DC, 1996 – 2001), and Preacher (Vertigo, 1995 – 2000) has enabled him to produce a growing number of critically and fan acclaimed war comics. As such, in the early 2010s, Titan Books Asked Ennis to lend his name to their efforts to reprint some of the classic war comics from Battle Picture Weekly, the British comics magazine that published many of the stories that had influenced Ennis himself. The first fruits of this collaboration were three beautiful hardback collections of Tom Tully and Joe Colquhoun’s Johnny Red (1977 ~ 1985).

Johnny Red tells to story of Johnny Redburn, a disgraced RAF pilot who winds up leading a squadron of Soviet fighters during World War Two. Notable for being one of the very few war comics during the Cold War to detail the savage warfare of the Russo-German theater of the war and to emphasize the bravery of the Russians fighting that war, Johnny Red featured incredibly detailed black and white illustrations by Colquhoun; tight, exclamation-point riddled scripting by Tully; and a much more brutal, violent, and bloody depiction of the war than any American comic of the time. Johnny Red remains one of the most beloved comic series ever published in the UK and Ennis himself has noted that “Johnny Red is one of my all-time favorite comic-strips.” It was therefore no surprise when Titian Comics announced the relaunch of Johnny Red as an eight-issue limited series scripted by none other than Garth Ennis. Ennis is teamed with artist Keith Burns (The Boys, Castle in the Sky) who has an admitted passion for World War II aviation art, and colorist Jason Wordie, and the three make an impressive team.

Two page spread from Johnny Red #1. Ennis (w), Burns (p), Wordie (c).

Two page spread from Johnny Red #1. Ennis (w), Burns (p), Wordie (c).

The first issue opens in 2015 with Tony Iverson, an American dot-com billionaire, pilot, and history buff, who is paying for the recovery and restoration of an original Hawker Hurricane Mk. 1 found buried in eastern Germany in 2009. The plane comes complete with Soviet markings and a mysterious history, leading Iverson to travel to Russia where he meets the young Lyudmila, who has tracked down an aged veteran who actually worked on the plane during the war. The old man, Rodimitz, begins to tell the Hurri’s tale, beginning in the fall of 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad. The city is a blasted, surrounded, wasteland of rubble and skeletal buildings, the people and Red Army soldiers holding it are starving. The Germans control the land and the sky, making supply of the defenders a deadly prospect for the Soviet pilots flying antiquated P.O.-2 biplanes. Until, that is, the swooping Messerschmitt Me-109s are suddenly ravaged by a squadron of Soviet Yak-9s led by a Hawker Hurricane sporting the red, white, and blue roundels of the RAF. The eponymous hero is kept a faceless mystery until the issue’s final splash page, but is revealed to be a master of aerial combat who is enormously respected and admired by his ragged, unkempt Russian squadron-mates. The issue is entirely set-up, a prologue for the story to come, introducing Johnny, his fellow pilots Rudi and Yakob, his ground-crew chief Rodimitz, and a seventeen-year old new-recruit, Private Popovich, but it does not disappoint.

Ennis is at the top of his game here, writing characters that are more than they seem, and infusing the dialogue with his trademark humor. His respect for the history he is playing in is, as always obvious, as is his feel for the very different attitudes and memories of World War II in both the Soviet Union and modern Russian. The story-within-a-story structure works well here, with visual juxtapositions of the narrating Rodimitz and his 21st century audience and the smoking rubble of Stalingrad in 1942 providing a seamlessly cinematic feel. Burns proves to be the perfect choice to illustrate the book with the sudden and vicious dogfight between the German and Soviet fighters representing one of the finest aerial combat sequences this correspondent has ever seen, and one equal for intensity, detail, and motion to Colquhoun himself.

The sky over Stalingrad, by Ennis (w), Burns (p), and Wordie (c).

The sky over Stalingrad in the fall of 1942, by Ennis (w), Burns (p), and Wordie (c).

Comparisons are inevitable in any relaunch of a long-running title, and Ennis, Burns, and Wordie come off very well indeed. Burns’ line is incredibly detailed while being a bit looser than Colquhoun’s and while he continues to pay attention to the minutia in sweeping panels showing Stalingrad from above or below, Burns has a more impressionistic turn of brush, particularly in his backgrounds. Wordie deserves high praise here as well. Since the original Johnny Red was a black and white strip, any colorist coming to the reboot has to tread carefully. Wordie is not afraid to use blacks, and uses a muted pallet heavily weighted to browns and dull reds that is perfectly suited to his subject. His sky-scapes are particularly notable, the muted pastels of oncoming dusk with dirty grey of clouds make an excellent backdrop to the dogfight sequences, while his work on the aircraft and characters themselves is careful to never drown out Burns’ line work, giving the book the best of both worlds – black and white detail and visceral color that supports and emphasizes, but never draws attention to itself. Really a brilliant job.

Johnny Red #1 is an impressive relaunch of a classic war comic, combining a compelling story, high-impact action sequences, and attention to the details of both characters and machines. Ennis, Burns, and Wordie seem to be the prefect team for this book, which is one of those rare jewels where writer, artist, and colorist are so beautifully in sync that they feel like a single creator. As a prologue to the larger series, the book works wonderfully. You will be hooked, and eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Titan Comics’ Johnny Red #1, written by Garth Ennis, with art by Keith Burns and colors by Jason Wordie, is available in comic shops now.

C'est la Guerre: Review - Johnny Red #1 (2015)

Johnny Red #1 is an impressive relaunch of a classic war comic, combining a compelling story, high-impact action sequences, and attention to the details of both characters and machines. Ennis, Burns, and Wordie seem to be the prefect team for this book, which is one of those rare jewels where writer, artist, and colorist are so perfectly in sync that they feel like a single creator. As a prologue to the larger series, the book works perfectly. You will be hooked, and eagerly awaiting the next installment.

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