Graphic Novels To Die For: Part 1

Charley’s War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun

Charley’s War had a dramatic effect on publishers produced battle comics in the UK between the 1950s and the 1980s. The comic’s setting in World War 1 was an indication of what Mills and Colquhoun had in mind, as they turned away from the standard World War 2 ‘Commando’ comic and introduced a far more realistic approach.

Charley’s War: 2 June – 1 August 1916

Many of the ‘war comic’ standards, including a young hero, incompetent officers and a mix of both honourable and ruthless enemies, were kept. However, the young hero survives more by luck than design, the utter incompetence of senior officers is laid bare, and friend and foe alike are brutalised by trench warfare.

Charley’s War: 1 August – 17 October 1916

The detailed graphics and, particularly, the dense inking give a real sense of the filth and squalor that soldiers were exposed to for years at a time. Five reprinted volumes from the original series are currently available. There’s more than enough plot and outstanding artwork to make the later volumes worth reading, though the fourth title, Blue’s Story, is less engaging in terms of continuing Charley’s Story, as it’s about a French deserter who recounts his experiences at Verdun to Charley.

Batman: Year One by Frank Millar, David Mazzucchelli, Richmond Lewis and Todd Klein

By the 1980′s, endless syndication of the dreadful Batman TV series from the 1950s had turned Gotham City’s millionaire vigilante into a bad joke. It hadn’t helped that the TV shows chose to mock comic book styling and the Batman franchise looked to be on its last legs. Fortunately, there was a solution, which lay in the hands of expert comic book writer Frank Millar and the retro comic artwork of David Mazzucchelli.

Millar’s gritty storyline, and Mazzucchelli’s equally gritty artwork, transformed Batman into a complex, tortured figure; driven to seek revenge for the murder of his parents, while needing to stop short of becoming what he despises.

Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition

In keeping with the plan to re-invent Batman, the story begins as a young Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to begin to seek his revenge and a not quite so young Lieutenant Gordon joins Gotham City’s corrupt police force.  What follows is a cutting condemnation of local politics and institutions, which are exposed as being as vile as any of the thugs found on Gotham’s streets.

Batman Begins

The success of Batman: Year One ensured a move towards more determined and realistic characters and storylines in Western comic books. The key to this was the switch from ‘Caped Crusader’ to menacing vigilante. The Batman movies that followed tried to capture the same sense of moral confusion and complexity but it took twenty years for Hollywood to ‘get’ Batman: Year One and produce Batman Begins.