My LCS had a quarter bin sale this past weekend, and while it is contrary to this blog’s mandate, I have said time and again that quarter bin sales and comic conventions are the exceptions to the rule. Conventions, of course, are about meeting creators and attenting panels in addition to the rows upon rows of longboxes that you dive into looking for back issues; quarter bin sales, on the other hand, are strictly for accumulating books and what you usually end up are something of the following: books on your want list (and there’s always one or two of them), beat-up comics from decades ago that might get tossed (mostly because they reek of mildew) and prestige format stuff that sold for $5 or more when they first came out. The Light Brigade is an example of that last one, and I found all four issues in the bins, meaning I got a series that was $5.95 an issue for a total of $1. Professor Alan would approvingly note that’s something like a 96% discount.

So this is a World War II-set comic written by Peter Tomasi and with art by Peter Snejbjerg and the concept is that a platoon of soldiers in the Belgian woods in December 1944. which is right around the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge; specifically, the Battle of St. Vith. The American troops are very much like the classic DC war comics characters–think Easy Company or The Losers–and the Nazis they are fighting against are led by Colonel Zephon, who is particularly sinister looking. One particular American soldier we focus on is Chris Stavros, who has just received word that his wife died in a car accident (although his son survived); another is their captain, who happens to be something much more than a simple army captain. It’s because he’s actually Marcus Longinus, the Roman Centurion whose spear pierced the side of Christ during the crucifiction and he carries it around with him. He’s been fighting a thousand-plus year battle against Zephon, who is the last of a fallen group of angels who seeks to take over heaven and rule. And once the captain reveals himself as Marcus Longinus, the group gets its mission: to stop Zephon and make their last stand at an old castle/monestary in the Belgian countryside.

I vaguely remember hearing about this when it came out 20 years ago, but can’t tell you if I considered it interesting at all, but when I was flipping through the bin and saw that Peter Tomasi was the writer, that was enough to sell me. I loved his work on Green Lantern Corps around the same time this book came out and I’ve read his work on other DC characters, all of which have been consistently good. And I definitely got my money’s worth. He isn’t bound by any sort of continuity when it comes to DC, so he’s free to tell his story, but what’s cool is that he takes classic DC war tropes–the group of soldiers who each have a quirk of personality and the Spear of Destiny (aka the Holy Lance, which was part of the old Justice Society/All-Star Squadron stories)–and mixes it with horror to tell a gritty “mature readers” story that really works. I think it’s because the violence is depicted as realistically as it can without being gratuitous and the story handles its own gravity very well.

I’m not sure that you could tell this particular story in any war other than World War II, to be honest. Not that there isn’t a justification for war every time soldiers go to fight, but remember that this was “The Good War” and the Third Reich was absolutely evil. Having demonic powers or some other spiritually evil entity work itself into the conflct fits because you can see that if humanity is going to allow fascism to rule in certain places, than that’s an opening to accomplish whatever goals they have. That’s kind of a roundabout way of saying that demonic Nazis are great villains and I love watching their heads explode.

Really, though, this isn’t a book I hear a lot about in passing and that’s a shame because not only is Tomasi’s story great, Snejbjerg’s art is outstanding. There’s a little bit of Matt Wagner and Mike Mignola in it, but also working within the Kanigher/Kubert realm of war comics. If you find this, grab it.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep.