Light Brigade
Peter Tomasi and Peter Snejbjerg
Great Graphic Novels for Teens Winner for 2009
Tomasi and company revive the war comic, a comic-book mainstay until Vietnam, with some clever cross-genre sampling. The mysterious GI Centurion deputizes a band of American soldiers fighting in Belgium in 1944 to help an archangel retrieve the Sword of God. The all-powerful weapon is also sought by some supernatural Nazis led by a fallen angel, who plan to use it to destroy both heaven and earth. Drawing equally on Christian mythology and World War II movies (Paradise Lost meets Band of Brothers), the yarn adopts the familiar Hollywood tactic of alternating harrowing battles and mundane-yet-poignant interludes. Further mixing genre elements, the GIs gain superpowers of a sort by bathing in the flames of a cross. Tomasi is equally deft with action and characterization; the realization of Private Chris Stavros, who lost his faith after his wife's death stateside, is particularly affecting. Peter Snejbjerg's art is lucidly effective in apocalyptic clashes and quiet moments alike. Light Brigade ought to please readers looking for something different, if not too different, in comics fare. Gordon Flagg