Garth Ennis' Complete Battlefields Volume 3

Battlefields #7-8

by Garth Ennis, Carlos Ezquerra (Artist), Russ Braun (Artist)

Two riveting tales of war, as only bestselling graphic novelist Garth Ennis can deliver! In "The Green Fields Beyond," veteran Sergeant Stiles leads the Tankies on the killing fields of Korea during the Chinese spring offensive of 1951. It's British steel against massed Communist hordes, as our heroes are cut off and outnumbered ten to one! In "The Fall and Rise of Anna Kharkova," the USSR's pilot heroine flies straight into trouble as her aircraft is shot down behind German lines. Anna faces her worst nightmare as a prisoner of the Nazis, and events are set in motion that will see her made an outcast among her own people.

Reviews:

"No one in comics does World War II better than Garth Ennis!" -- Comics Waiting Room

"A gripping and powerful read that's very well-researched and richly-written with the creative teams bringing history to life on the page. If you want to read great war comics, Garth Ennis is your man and Battlefields is among his best! - Comic Ally

"You will be entertained but also captivated from some of its highbrow concepts. - Unleash the Fanboy

"(A) brilliant exercise of veteran writing by Ennis. Every character has a purpose and they feel real, right down to their accents." - iFanBoy

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, War, Historical Fiction, Comic Book

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2014

About the author

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.

Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.

Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.

While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.

Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.

After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.

Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.

In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis

Reviews

[Sam Quixote]

This is the third and final volume in Garth Ennis’ Battlefields series, a title which focuses on Ennis’ favourite subject: WAR! Volume 3 is made up of two three-issue stories: The Fall and Rise of Anna Kharkova, drawn by Ennis’ The Boys artist Russ Braun, and The Green Fields Beyond, drawn by Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra. And, like the other books in the series, it’s a quality read!

Set in 1944, Ennis returns to Anna Kharkova, the female Soviet pilot we met earlier in the series in The Night Witches, who goes against her patrol orders to raid a Nazi unit and gets shot down. From there we see her convalesce in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, get court-martialled by her own people (Stalin believed if you didn’t fight back when you captured, you were a traitor – didn’t matter that she couldn’t walk, let alone fight back!), and train Korean pilots in the Korean war. Women pilots always got the crap assignments but headstrong Anna kept going against orders to fly the men-only planes on the fun dogfight missions – and it’s her downfall.

Fall and Rise is a moving and fascinating story with a great strong female protagonist that highlights the brutality of the Soviet regime and the courage of Anna’s actions to follow her dreams regardless of the consequences. It descends into pure fantasy in the finale but Ennis has never written a more heartfelt farewell to a character. And that’s what I love about these comics: Ennis writes very real, very human characters – along with exciting story elements – against the inhuman nature of war.

Ennis has a (well-earned) reputation for writing over-the-top, action/violence-heavy comics but he’s also a quality writer who can write amazing character pieces when he wants to. There’s a deep respect for the characters in this book who, while fictional, are representations of real people. War stories are traditionally aimed at boys so it’s refreshing to see Ennis writing about the women who took part in WW2 who are too often underrepresented in the genre as active – and key - participants in the conflicts.

The Green Fields Beyond is set during the Korean War in 1951 with Ennis and Ezquerra returning to catch up with Stiles, their character from Tankies, another story from earlier in the series. British Tank Sergeant Stiles and his latest recruit Robinson get separated from their unit - and their tank – and wind up with the 1st Battalion, The Gloucester Regiment aka The Glosters, defending a hill against literally thousands and thousands of Chinese soldiers.

I know very little about the Korean War so it was interesting to find out that it was basically a dress rehearsal for the Vietnam War – America and Soviet Russia battling indirectly, using the Koreans as their cover. If Communist China hadn’t intervened, the West might’ve prevailed and there wouldn’t be a North/South Korea divide today.

Green Fields is a more traditional war comic with lots of guns, tanks and battles – it’s a lively, fast-paced read with the action ranging from one-to-one combat to armies fighting. Once Stiles and Robinson make it back to their Centurion tank (Stiles finally gets a decent tank!) things get very, very gory – be warned, this is an incredibly graphic read with Ezquerra showing the full horrors of war.

The one criticism I have of this story – of this book really – is the Geordie accent (that’s Newcastle to the non-Brits) Stiles has which is infuriatingly written phonetically! “Ah’d still put it oop against owt there is, sir. It’s that canny it’ll even make ye a cup o’ tea.” - what?! Man, is it annoying to read! I wish all accents were written normally in fiction – it’s always the worst when you’ve got to sloooow doooooooown to sound out the words on the page and figure out what on earth anyone’s saying!

The Complete Battlefields Volume 3 is an outstanding book by one of the best comics writers ever, Garth Ennis. It’s a gripping and powerful read that’s very well-researched and richly-written with the creative teams bringing history to life on the page. If you want to read great war comics, Garth Ennis is your man and Battlefields is among his best!

[Alan]

The stories in this volume brought back, for me, the Garth Ennis I remember and like. In complete honesty I'm not a huge fan of either Ennis' hyper-violent titles or his humor work (nor when he mashes the two together ex: The Boys). This final volume of Battlfields shows Ennis' strength as a storyteller, which is getting the reader engaged in the characters, and his appreciation for the dedication to those who chose to fight.

This volume is comprised of two stories. The final story of the woman pilot who began her career as a Nightwitch, The Rise and Fall of Anna Kharkova has political elements that remind of Stuart Kaminsky's Rostinkov novels. Anna has her flaws, but I can understand her desire to retain her place as a pilot. She showed the USSR brass that she was as good as any man, and she didn't want to take steps back and not be a pilot any longer.

The Green Fields Beyond takes former WWII tank commander Stiles and places him in one of Korea's bloodiest battles. What stuck with me here is how during one sequence Stiles, still a sergeant after re-enlisting, describes how uncomfortable he was at home upon returning from WWII. It made me wonder about today's returning veterans who are coming home from Iraq and other conflicts.

I am definitely comfortable recommending this title.

[Rod Brown]

Russian pilot Anna Kharkova, who has appeared in stories in the first two volumes, is given a magnificent send-off in this final book of the series. The British tank soldier from previous volumes comes up an also ran with his entry, but still gets a fine story to close out a really terrific collection of World War II tales. Highly recommended.

[Terry Murphy]

I've circled back around on this series. As it concludes, I am of two minds. Part of me enjoys the rah-rah jingoism of each tale. And part of me is a little appalled at the barely masked chauvinism that seeps into absolutely everything Ennis writes.

Trying to put aside the obvious issues that the writer is working through in his stories, I will admit that he is a gifted storyteller. And the work here eschews the tired "war is hell" tropes for a more sober, even-handed approach.

Not a bad conclusion to what were fun vignettes, but a wee bit of a letdown considering the sterling second act.

[BIGnick BIGnick]

A solid ending to the trilogy. The Night Witches’ conclusion is more fictitious than its previous publications (Garth Ennis admits as much in the end notes) but seems a fitting end for our soviet pilot. The Tankies’ conclusion is gory albeit somewhat abruptly ended.
This volume is nonetheless worthy of the Battlefield banner.

[s.j.hannaway]

Terrific Read

This is top quality, with excellent illustrations & storyline it doesn’t get much better than this !!!
My Father, had he still been with us would’ve loved reading this series, he was a RM Commando during WW2 who saw a lot of action until he was badly wounded at the Battle of Cassino in 1944 & invalided out …

[Cheese]

A fantastic ending to a fantastic series.

Garth Ennis really outdoes himself with these war stories. He injects real humanity into the characters. I don't think anyone else does this better than Ennis.

[Seroxx83]

4.5

[Jonathan Roberts]

Another good book! Probably 4.5 stars, just because the others were so good and this one was just good

[Elliot]

Meh

[Jefferson]

Ennis deftly blends action, horror, humor, and history. War and combat serve as the background, but these stories are really about the extremely well-developed human characters who inhabit them.

[Davide Pappalardo]

When Ennis write about war, he is at his top game. Maybe the better volume is the second one, but this great reading material nonetheless

[Sleepy Boy]

While more fantasy ending for the first, still good. Really appreciate Ennis' break down of how and why he wrote the series the way he did.

[Online Eccentric Librarian]

The Battlefields series has proven to be a gem of graphic novel storytelling. Eschewing blood, guts and machismo for very human stories of 20th centuries wars, the series grips you from the first page and you are inexorably drawn into the tales of pathos and spirit.

In Battlefields Volume 3, we have two stories:

A female Russian fighter pilot is shot down in enemy territory during World War II. She survives horrific injuries thanks to a fellow British prisoner of war who happened to have a medical history. But when their prisoner camp is liberated, the woman finds herself on trial for daring to survive to be captured. Did she cowardly give up instead of fighting to the end to save her homeland, mother Russia?

A squad leader in the Korean war finds himself with a replacement: the younger, idealistic brother of a squaddie he'd saved. The squad is sure their leader will save them but the leader himself is just an ordinary man and he will be put through the crucible of a terrible war with modern weaponry like napalm.

The first story was incredibly poignant; a tale of betrayal, lost opportunities, small minded men, and a good woman ruined not by war but by her own country. It was a powerful story that kept me hooked until the end. Ennis smartly refuses to compromise on the deaths, terror, horror, cruelty, stupidity; he allows the humanity to shine through, and creates a poetic ending that while not true to life, is fitting to the story.

The second story did not draw me in as much. The strong dialects meant that I had to read every sentence twice or three times just to understand what was being said. As such, I felt like I was translating rather than reading a story. Chalk that up to me being American and not familiar with the accents in the UK and Ireland. It is also very battle intensive - Ennis gives the main character a quiet dignity in his everyman approach to life while life is hell around him in the war.

Both stories are linked at heart with one message: the value of the individual vs communist countries that don't value the individual and his/her unique talents. In both stories, Russia and China expect their people to die en masse, without question, and without hesitation - pawns in a game where the individual and his/her gifts are lost for the greater good of the country. With Anna's trial and the mass death of Chinese soldiers, there is a very strong political message being said about both countries. America, another superpower with a specific mindset, is missing nearly completely from the stories - on purpose.

As with the previous edition, Battlefields 2, this is an extremely well done historical war fiction with basis in facts. There is an extensive set of pages at the end describing the actual history from which the stories are drawn. This complete volume 3 also comes with storyboards.

In all, highly recommended for its humanity and depth. The machismo was left at the door and what remains are simple but flawed individuals making their way in a nasty situation over which they have little control.

Reviewed from an ARC.

[Wayne McCoy]

'Garth Ennis Complete Battlefields Volume 3' is a showcase of the great writing that Garth Ennis is known for. There are 2 complete, and completely different, stories featured in this volume. Both are based on true events and very memorable.

'The Fall and Rise of Anna Kharkova' follows a female Russian pilot starting at the end of World War II. The female pilots were known as Night Witches. She goes on an unauthorized raid over Germany and ends up crashing. She spends the rest of the war injured and being tended to by a British soldier. Upon her release, she is branded a traitor by her country because they demanded that soldiers fight to the death, not capture. The story follows her journey as an outcast, when all she really wants to do is fly again.

In 'The Green Fields Beyond' it's the Korean War and we follow the Hussars into tank battle during the Chinese Spring offensive of 1951. During the adventure, we visit the Glosters during their defense of Hill 235. It's one of those do or die defenses where courage is born out of hopelessness.

The volume ends with a nice essay detailing the true events that inspired these two stories. The stories are not that far fetched. The writing is top notch and the art is very good. I really enjoyed this one.

I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Nate]

The sagas of Anna Kharkova and Sergeant Stiles come to a close in the third and final volume of Battlefields. I teared up during the last pages of Anna’s story. From “Night Witches” to “Rise and Fall”, her nine issues are some of my favorite comics from Ennis. In “The Green Fields Beyond”, Stiles’ story fast forwards to the Korean War, where he reluctantly takes the brother of old comrade under his wing. This one has many strong moments. The dialogue, emotions, and combat feel so real.

Not much else to say. This is an outstanding close to an outstanding series.

[Ron]

This volume has the final episodes in the tales of Anna Kharkova in WWII/Korea and Sergeant Stiles of the Hussars during the Korean War. If you are looking for action, the Stiles section provides plenty. Anna Kharkova is more an amalgamation of what happened to many soldiers (male and female) under the Soviet Union iron boot. I will have to be on the look-out for the earlier 2 volumes now.