SGT. ROCK VS. THE ARMY OF THE DEAD HC
Story: Bruce Campbell
Art: Eduardo Risso
Cover: Gary Frank
DC Comics, $24.99
This is not at all what I expected. Which is not a complaint.
For one thing, I had it in my head that Billy Tucci (who has written previous Sgt. Rock miniseries, and I think has one upcoming) was the writer. Instead, I see it's Bruce Campbell, the actor who plays the protagonist in all the Evil Dead movies. Again, not a complaint: I generally enjoy Tucci stories, although occasionally he leans a little bit into Christian proselytism, which isn't to my taste. But there's no danger of that here! And Campbell provides a rip-snorter of a story, with only a few beginners' mistakes, which leads me to believe he had some help. (I don't know of any other stories Campbell has written.) Regardless, it's as engaging as many a professionally written story.
For another, it's a Sgt. Fury story.
Sgt. Rock stories were largely seen through the lens of the ordinary soldier, where morality tales would play out among the war-weary dogfaces of Easy Co. as they trudged from Omaha Beach to the Rhine. Sgt. Fury stories, by contrast, were the adventures of an elite Ranger group (inexplicably called "commandoes," a British term) going deep behind enemy lines to commit sabotage, extraction, assassination or raids.
This story fits neatly into the second category. Rock receives a "Level 9 assignment" from "the Skipper" (sadly, not the Skipper of The Losers, a missed opportunity), which instantly transforms Easy Co. into a Ranger squad, with each member having a specialty. Four-Eyes is now an infallible sniper, Hot-Head a demolitions expert (and part-time pyromaniac), Short-Round and Long-Round an elite bazooka team, and so forth. And, of course, they all have plot armor. Can you say "Howling Commandoes," boys and girls? I knew that you could.
Army of the Dead isn't a story of ordinary soldiers blundering into Nazi zombies on the front lines, as I expected it would be. It is instead the story of an elite unit sent by G-2 behind enemy lines specifically to wipe out the method by which the Nazis are creating zombies. Army Intelligence conveniently has a sample zombie handy at the briefing, which conveniently escapes, so Easy Co. (and the reader) can see how hard the zombies are to kill. Rock & Co. know what they're getting into, so the horror of discovery is absent entirely. It's a clear-eyed Ranger mission from beginning to end.
Easy Co. is also equipped with experimental high-tech weapons which, broadly speaking, are preposterous for World War II. Night-vision goggles, long-distance Walkie-Talkies, automatic weapons which wouldn't exist for decades, and so on. Not only did these things not exist in WWII, they couldn't even have been built in WWII, absent the technological and manufacturing infrastructure to create them.
So it's pure fantasy, like Sgt. Fury stories. But have I mentioned that I often enjoyed Sgt. Fury stories? Sure, I was disappointed when I realized early on how removed from reality Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes was from real combat. But after that I eventually embraced the superhero aspect -- and I like superheroes! For the latter run of Sgt. Fury, I put aside my expectations for realism and instead enoyed superhero romps where the good guys wore olive drab instead of leotards. Also, after the introduction of "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." in Strange Tales, Sgt. Fury stories also offered a lot of fun Easter eggs that Marvel mavens such as myself knew would lead to events in the "modern" Marvel Universe. Plus, Gary Friedrich wrote some nice morality tales.
Or maybe this is more analagous to an Evil Dead movie. I can't say, having never seen one. But I suspect there are similarities, especially since these are not Walking Dead zombies -- they don't immediately die from a head shot (you really have to take out the whole head or torso) and they can't spread zombie-ism through bites. They are revenants by virtue of chemical stimulant and techological implants, not whatever it is that animates Robert Kirkman's zombies.
So, no complaints.
But I did mention rookie errors, so let's talk about those.
One was that a couple of times in this six-issue collection an issue would end with Easy Company on mission, but the next issue would begin with them back at headquarters, reporting the information they'd gleaned in the last issue, and being sent back into the field again. I saw no mechanism for the soldiers to be extracted, and couldn't figure any reason they would be. And, this being World War II, technological means for travel were pretty limited, so it would have to be explained.
But I don't mind. For one thing, these glitches in the matrix were few, and the story rocketed forward in such a pell-mell manner that I was able to mentally gloss over them easily. Further, it's possible that it was explained and I simply missed it. I confess freely that my eyesight isn't what it used to be, which makes it difficult to read certain kinds of text, which I tend to skim over. Sadly, I am aware this affects reading comprehension. And I didn't do a re-read, so maybe I'm at fault.
Therefore, I can't complain.
The second rookie error was anachronistic dialogue. SInce Bruce Campbell and I are in the same age cohort, he must have grown up with the same World War II movies and TV shows I did, and all the grown-ups in his childhood world, like mine, would have been products of the '40s. If that's all it takes to be conversant in 1940s slang, then he should be just as familiar with it as I am. Maybe it's all the comic books I read that were written by World War II veterans like Stan Lee and Robert Kanigher?
Or maybe it was a choice.
Whatever the reason, Campbell's dialogue goes off-model pretty routinely. Rock uses expressions like "we fight with the army we got" (a paraphrase of Donald Rumsfeld, 2004) and "light him up" (instead of 1940s expressions, like "open fire" or "open up"). I believe expressions like "give me a sitrep" and "incoming" also came into existence long after WWII. And that's just the first two issues -- I didn't re-skim any further than that, given I had sufficient examples, but I vaguely remember even worse ones down the road.
Being as familiar with '40s slang as I am, initially these anachronisms pinged off my ear like a pebble bouncing off a tin roof.
However, I can forgive this, too, because the majority of readers are not as old as I am, and probably won't notice. Those younger than me have probably heard "light him up" all their lives, and will be completely unaware that this is a modern phrase. Campbell's dialogue serves the purpose of communication, so I asked the pedant in me to stand down. Eventually I stopped caring (although I couldn't stop noticing).
Further, this book isn't set in Sgt. Rock continuity -- or even in real history. For example, in the course of the mission Easy Co. kills real historical figures, whose deaths in our world were decidedly different. (Since Sgt. Rock didn't exist.) Think Inglorious Basterds, and you've got the picture. (Which might explain the high-tech equipment, too.)
As I said, no complaint.
Finally, I should mention the art. I love me some Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, Spaceman), and he is his usual excellent self here. It's worth any pain in the dialogue to drool over his mastery of emotion and shadow. The covers by the teriffic Gary Frank are also noteworthy. Variant covers by Francesco Francavilla as WWII recruitment posters (with zombies), I found to be less clever than they thought they were, and kinda bland.
The upshot then, is I enjoyed Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead. I have listed the caveats for those who want a traditional Sgt. Rock story, or a more realistic war story. If you can accept the premise as I described it, you might enjoy the book too.
And you might as well, because the end tag reads "The Beginning." I expect Nazi vampires next! Or werewolves! Would that be such a bad thing?
Replies
There's an even bigger rookie mistake in nearly every panel that features the good sergeant Rock: He's depicted with three chevrons and one rocker on his shoulders, instead of three chevrons and three rockers. In other words, artist Eduardo Risso has carelessly demoted Rock from master sergeant to staff sergeant. How THAT got by the editors I cannot understand.
Actually, I can; early promo art for Billy Tucci's miniseries Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion had a painted cover image that showed a diamond (or lozenge) in the space between Rock's three chevrons and three (count them, three) rockers on his helmet. In other words, Tucci promoted rock to first sergeant. (In fairness, the first two or three of the earliest Rock stories in Our Army at War did depict Rock as a first sergeant, but the lozenge disappeared after that.)
I am a devoted fan of Sgt. Rock, and I believe you put your finger on exactly what is wrong with this tale: It ain't a Sgt. Rock story, it's a Sgt. Fury story. Risso even draws the character more like Fury, with dark hair cut in a flattop; Rock has always been blond, with a crewcut. And he smokes cigarettes, but in this comic, Risso has him smoking cigars, which Rock has never done.
I wound up reading this series in and around plowing through my copy of DC Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales, the old horror anthology title that started out reprinting fare from other DC war titles with new framing sequences drawn (and most likely written) by old master Joe Kubert before it shifted to all-new stories. This allowed me to accept Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead as an alternate universe version of Sgt. Rock. Otherwise I might have thoroughly hated it for its missteps.
Captain Comics said:
Easy Co. is also equipped with experimental high-tech weapons which, broadly speaking, are preposterous for World War II. Night-vision goggles, long-distance Walkie-Talkies, automatic weapons which wouldn't exist for decades, and so on.
When I was in Vietnam a quarter-century after WWII, night-vision googles would really have been appreciated. Before my job changed, I spent some nights on top of a bunker* on our perimeter, watching for sappers who could sneak in and blow us up.
*There were three of us. One on top completely exposed and two below sleeping until it was their shift.
Night vision was a new thing then involving large equipment, a monitor screen and no goggles. And we didn’t even have the equipment. Sometimes there was no moon or a heavy fog and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The only option was to send up a flare by smacking its bottom (no flare gun). Then the flare would deploy its tiny parachute and slowly descend. You could see, but so could the other guys if they were there. I was lucky. They weren’t there.
One was that a couple of times in this six-issue collection an issue would end with Easy Company on mission, but the next issue would begin with them back at headquarters, reporting the information they'd gleaned in the last issue, and being sent back into the field again. I saw no mechanism for the soldiers to be extracted, and couldn't figure any reason they would be. And, this being World War II, technological means for travel were pretty limited, so it would have to be explained.
There was no way to extract anyone in WWII. Anything they needed to report would involve coded written messages carried by somebody on a motorcycle. Except for the motorcycle, just like in the Civil War.
I expect Nazi vampires next! Or werewolves! Would that be such a bad thing?
The movie Overlord* had mutants and zombies just ahead of the D-Day invasion. The first line in its Wikipedia entry is “Overlord is a 2018 American alternate history action horror film.“ Without doing too much digging I think vampires and werewolves have figured into similar movies. Mixing horror and history reminds me of the comic book series Manifest Destiny.
Almost as fantastic as the mutants and zombies is the integrated WWII unit.
*The D-Day invasion was officially Operation Overlord.
ClarkKent_DC said:
Actually, I can; early promo art for Billy Tucci's miniseries Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion had a painted cover image that showed a diamond (or lozenge) in the space between Rock's three chevrons and three (count them, three) rockers on his helmet. In other words, Tucci promoted Rock to first sergeant.
(In fairness, the first two or three of the earliest Rock stories in Our Army at War did depict Rock as a first sergeant, but the lozenge disappeared after that.)
First sergeant isn’t so much a rank as a job. If you are the only master sergeant in a company, you will be the first sergeant and wear the special chevron for that. Depending upon the type of unit, there may be more than one master sergeant, but only one first sergeant. I’m not sure if it comes with bonus money or not, but it’s not an actual promotion. If sent to a different assignment, the soldier may or may not become a first sergeant again, but will retain the master sergeant rank. Rock, as far as I know, was always the only man in Easy Company with that rank, and probably should have always been the first sergeant.
Now somebody has to explain why he always has ammunition belts for a full-size machine gun wrapped around him. It doesn’t fit his weapon.
Richard Willis said:
Rock wears those for good luck.
No, it doesn't make any sense; who would carry around dead weight all the time for nothing? As I learned in my days as a Scout leader, "An ounce in the morning is a pound at night." But does belief in luck make any sense?
For my part, I wonder why those ammo belts don't slide off his shoulders. I noticed that in the two Sgt. Rock stories drawn by John Severin In Our Army at War #265 (February 1974) and Our Army at War #272 (September 1974), he drew the ammo draped around Rock's neck like a scart. But that's John Severin's commitment to realistic detail; nobody else ever followed his example.
But does belief in luck make any sense?
That reminds me of a Peanuts Sunday strip. Charlie Brown is getting dressed for a baseball game and explaining to his sister Sally that he always puts his right shoe on first for luck, and Sally asks him if he's ever won a game. In the last panel, at the game, someone asks where Charlie Brown is and Sally replies, "He's at home sitting on his bed with one shoe off and one shoe on."