Wolfenstein: gli abissi

Wolfenstein #1-2

by Dan Watters, Piotr Kowalski (Disegnatore), Ronilson Freire (Disegnatore)

Marciamo direttamente nell’America del 1960, in piena occupazione nazista, in questo sconvolgente prequel del celebrato videogame: WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW COLOSSUS.

I Nazisti hanno vinto la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, e nell’America sotto il dominio tedesco una piccola banda di rinnegati si batte per la sopravvivenza. La ma relativa calma del loro santuario viene infranta dall’arrivo di un gruppo scelto di nazisti, alla ricerca di una misteriosa e segretissima cava. Ma non sono le sole facce nove. Una strana vecchia ha una storia da raccontare, una storia a proposito di un leggendario cacciatore di nazisti: B.J. “Terror Billy” Blascowicz.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

112 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2017

About the author

Dan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.

Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini]

Volume cartonato che racchiude la miniserie in due numeri, prequel a fumetti del videogioco Wolfenstein® II: The New Colossus™, uscita solo ora in Italia per RW edizioni con quattro anni di ritardo rispetto alla pubblicazione originale, che si legge con piacere e che ha il pregio di aggiungere all’ambientazione ucronica originale, una versione tamarra e steampunk de La Svastica sul Sole (The Man in the High Castle) di Philip K. Dick, due inaspettate strizzate d’occhio a Il Richiamo di Cthulhu di H. P. Lovecraft, ed al suo meno conosciuto racconto breve Il Tempio, di cui é quasi un seguito apocrifo e non dichiarato.



Ho perso il conto delle ore passate a giocare al gioco originale, quindi non potevo decisamente farmi scappare questo fumetto e ne ho decisamente apprezzato storia ed atmosfera, con ben tre sotto-trame diverse ma allo stesso tempo interconnesse tra loro.



Purtroppo alla fine il prezzo del volume non proprio economico, la qualità altalenante dei disegni ed un agghiacciante refuso che mi ha fatto piangere lacrime di sangue, hanno inciso non poco sulla valutazione finale.



Tre stelle, tre e mezzo se siete fan incalliti di lunga data del franchise.

[Brendan]

I'm catching up on a lot of my backlog and this is part of the games I'm playing so it goes hand in hand. The book was violent and out there like games, a multiverse game that depicts the occult Nazi regime winning WWI. The story lacks a lot of depth but the book fits the game nicely and the protagonists you inhabit in the game is one of the central figures here. I hope they turn this into a larger series as the video game can only show so much, a book like this can show other parts of the universe this series has created. If you haven't played the game, much easier to stay clear as you won't have the investment.

[Joe]

If you’re a fan of the game series I highly recommend this book. It follows the story of William “BJ” Blazkowicz and his ally/lover the fierce Anya. The story tells about the alternate reality in which the nazis won WWII and the struggle of the resistance in Europe as they try to take down the nazi party against all odds. The book, unlike the game, has some subpar writing and horrible character development but makes up for it with some stunning artwork. It really captures the dark, gloomy, and gory nature of the game and fantastically puts it into words to push the story on even farther into greatness. Overall I highly recommend the book especially for fans of the series and I fully intend on reading the sequel.

[Petr]

This just did not hit the right strings. It shares the world of Wolfenstein, but does not manage to transmit the feel of it. The story is weirdly fractured and just goes deeper into aliens and weird stuff which I never considered as the core of the Wolfenstein experience. A fun piece in the mosaic, but not the core.

[Alex Sarll]

Read purely because I rate Watters as a writer; I've not played any of the games since the early nineties, and doubtless if I had there'd be stuff that clicked more readily. Certainly I suspect it would have left me less annoyed with the fake insignia used in place of the swastika, though the comic does its level best to push back against any ambiguity thus introduced by ending both sections with the words "Fuck fascists." Now, granted there is no component of the Nazis winning, with dieselpunk superweapons, and ancient occult knowledge, which has not been done to death by this point. But as variations on that theme go, well, these cyclopean pre-human ruins look more authentically eldritch than some, and tie in nicely to an idea about the ultimate self-destructiveness of any system idealising a supposed ancient purity. The notion of oil as intrinsically haunted is a rarer one than its appealing internal logic might suggest, and I really enjoyed the nods to eternal recurrence, tying in as they do everything from a philosopher the Nazis grievously misused, through a nod to the story's roots in a game franchise, to the depressing fact of living through a time when people have apparently once more forgotten that fascists are A Bad Thing.

[Cale]

I haven't gotten too far into the series, but my impression after reading this is that I didn't really need to be to enjoy the story. Other than knowing who B.J. is, it's mostly a reminiscence from another character's perspective, offering up lots of nazi-killing action, occult horrors and weird technology. And it works fine for that, although the art felt a little muddy. There are two stories, basically, with the B.J.-focused story serving as motivation for the other one. It's violent and cruel and dark and heavy handed, and ultimately feels pretty much tonally on par with the games. Other than the "previously" pages basically spelling out the entire plot of the first game, I think it would work for people not at all familiar with the games. Watters does a good job with what he's working with, but if you really want to see his skills, follow him over to his Lucifer series.

[John H]

Another weed read. Kind of a mess.

[Michael Rupert]

I get that they were going for flashbacks and storytelling, but this comic jumped around too much and there was really no development. I love the concept, but meh execution

[Sam]

I'm a fan of the Wolfenstein series of games, but when I heard about this graphic novel as a prequel to The New Colossus and a sequel to The New Order I was a little confused. The stories of the games have much in common with each other, and there's a real running storyline or theme at all, so how do you make a graphic novel in addition? By the looks of it, you don't. Wolfenstein is really just a name. Probably because its the same dude who came up with the concept. So don't expect Dan Watters to do any fancy Limit Break moves and save the day! Anyway what I mean is that you really don't have to have even heard of the games to enjoy this graphic novel. The artwork is amazing. The only let down of the is possibly the story. It's not what I expected, and its probably not what you'd call "main stream alternate history". But then would you expect anything less from something with the Wolfenstein brand name? Maybe that's the link. Personally I liked the story, but I heard a lot of people around me complaining about it. But before you complain think about it like this: its great that they have a story that just can't be told any other way. It requires all these kick-ass comics. It makes sense. Go see this, ignore the story and just enjoy the unbelievable Wolfenstein comics if you like, but read it.

[Hizonfire]

Though familiar with the Wolfenstein universe via the older games, I feel that I would have appreciated this better if I really played the recent games. The background at the start gives necessary information on the world but when it comes to the characters, aside from BJ Blaskowicz, I am at a loss. The story structure seems to skip and there are times I am confused by the characters because of the way they are drawn. I wanted to like this since the start gives surprising depth and nuance on the repercussions of a Nazi conquered world. However, things seem disjointed towards the end when it comes to storytelling I felt I missed several key details which seemed glossed over or may be available in other media.

[Marcin]

When I've heard about Wolfenstein comics inspired by recent games, I was intrigued. But sadly it's not as good, I really disliked this volume. While they had some good ideas, the story was a confusing mess. It felt like a insignificant filler, where even the creators didn't had a clue what they want to tell.

[Louis]

It was better than I thought it was going to be. I loved the last two games, so I had to read it. It made me think that this owes more debt to PKD's "The Man in the High Castle" which seems like a fair analogy, to me. Otherwise, it's really good.

[Искандер Булатов]

Комикс хорошо дополняет лор вселенной, однако при этом будет интересен и тем кто вообще ничего не знает о похождения Бласковица. Мистика, механизированные орудия и тонны патронов - все что вы так любите ждет на страницах этого комикса

[Robert Beartoe]

I have not played the games, and this did nothing to really make me want to, and I was more or less lost through half of it. Either not written well or not an engaging enough story, and I fear it’s really a little of each. Pretty cool art, but lacking overall. Call it a 2.5.

[Tony Hactavish]

Is it just me or the structure of this comic is kinda mess ? I mean it could be delivered better but the comics was just over complicated a simple story. It's too bad that the Professor is character is kinda wasted and doesn't have any impact, it doesn't even portray BJ character well IMO.

[Sam Nicholson]

7/10

[Callum]

Great for fans of Wolfenstein.

[Craig]

Not much to this one, really.

[ardi]

Pertama kali baca seri dari Titan Comics, cuma excited liat covernya, cerita dan gambarnya kurang menarik

[Wikszy]

I liked the part when Blazkowicz said "Fuck fascists".

[Jason]

Boring

[Only One]

Did not expect the occult elements

[Andrei]

I like the Wolfenstein universe, but for some reason this comic didn't click with me. True, I haven't played any of the games since New Order, and that was quite some time ago. This features a character called The Professor who operates a shelter of sorts for "survivors" of the occupation. Their existence is troubled by a bunch of Nazis who are digging for something ancient, and she's drawn into exploring what this is about alongside a mysterious old woman. There's also a flashback story where BJ Blazkowicz crosses paths with the old woman (then young), as they try to put a stop to a mad Nazi's plans.

What I liked: The art, especially in the "current day" parts of the story - very visceral and gory, and great design for the german war machines. There's a ton of action throughout this sequence.

What I didn't like: the main story felt rather unsatisfying, especially since it reads like a simple sabotage mission with no major antagonists. The time skips could have been much shorter and just focus on the ancient alien races, but half of that was unnecessary filler - bland action with BJ Blazkowicz shooting up generic nazis, without any of their tech enhancements.