“He don’t care about nothin’ but killing Nazis.”
Titan ventures into the world of creator-owned comics with this pulp action adventure, written and painted by Marvel UK veteran Stuart Jennett.
The Allies and Nazis have both developed time-travel technology and it is the job of Sarge and his group of misfits to stop the enemy from changing time to their own ends. First top is the Cretaceous period where you’re just as likely to be killed by a T-Rex as a Nazi. Cue a lot of running, decapitations, explosions and other good old-fashioned mayhem.
From its cover, depicting the cigar-chomping Sarge opening fire on a dinosaur, to the end shot of the Allied forces’ chief scientist Albert Einstein (who else?) firing a machine gun, it’s clear we’re very much in pulp territory. Likewise, the characterisation comes from the same handbook. As soon as he appears, we’re left in no doubt what type of a man Sarge is. Think Nick Fury, but hard-boiled for an extra minute and with a nice line in pithy, Bruckheimeresque, action movie dialogue.
The rest of his squadron members are very sketchily presented, but seeing as they’re mainly cannon (or dinosaur) fodder that’s entirely understandable and totally in keeping with the genre.
Jennett’s fully painted artwork looks great and he’s particularly good at depicting the dinosaurs and their jungle habitat. The opening pages, featuring the great prehistoric beasts fighting each other, only to be interrupted by the WWII time machine, are a joy. Some of the figure work might be a little static at times, but still lovely enough to overcome that slight flaw.
The plot rips along at a more than brisk pace and there are enough surprises and amusing lines of dialogue to carry you along with it. Seeds are sown and characters introduced that suggest there should be enough material here to keep the momentum going over the five issues of this series.
All in all, a good read and if this sounds like your type of thing, then you won’t be disappointed.
Stuart Jennett (W/A) • Titan Comics, $3.99, July 10, 2013
