Six Days: The Incredible Story of D-Day's Lost Chapter
Robert Venditti & Kevin Maurer, writers; Andrea Mutti, artist
DC Vertigo Comics, 2019
Another late Vertigo entry I had overlooked, this World War II graphic novel tells the story of the 182 members of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division who were dropped way off-course on D-Day. They found themselves 15 miles behind enemy lines in the small village of Graignes, France. The French villagers were fully aware of the danger of German reprisals if they helped the Americans, but they did so willingly.
The narrative follows both the American soldiers and the French villagers as they face the position they are in, on a personal level. When a small German militia passed through the war came to this remote town in the countryside, and for the next six days, the small band of American paratroopers and French citizens fought for their lives to hold back 2,000 enemy combatants.
If this were an old fashioned Hollywood war movie, the small but scrappy Allied forces would somehow prevail over the vastly superior German numbers--or at least hold out long enough to be rescued by reinforcements. But this is a true war story, so the result is far bleaker than that. It still tells an inspiring story about bravery and community, which I would place on the level of writer Garth Ennis' excellent war comics.
Andrea Mutti did a terrific job illustrating this, along with colorist Lee Loughridge (who unfortunately did not get a cover credit). Of course the story includes plenty of battle, but the quiet scenes are equally affecting. After the Americans release a homing pigeon to communicate with headquarters there is a clever sequence of panels showing the bird's progress over the course of the rest of the narrative. Things do not go well for the bird, either.
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