An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten Volume One
I reviewed the first issue of this series years ago, and Bernie was recently nice enough to send me the first two collected editions, making up the first six issues of the comic (that’s assuming he’s even putting them out in single issues any more, as he may have decided to just put out the collected editions for financial reasons). In my first review I mentioned that it’s projected to be 12 issues, which may or may not still be true, but these two books should give a solid impression of the series regardless. Right away I have to warn you: if that title strikes you as whimsical, that you might get a lot of chuckles out of a series with that title, that will not be the case. Unless you’re a remarkably morbid human being, I guess. Things start off with our hero Buckeley trying to get some distance from the war he’s fighting. The journey is told in grim but exacting detail, and we see him immediately being sickened by the town he’s arrived in. Bernie didn’t skimp on the level of detail at all here, as even the individual people in the crowd scenes are distinctly individual people (unlike lots of people who draw a few faces in the crowd and leave the rest of it an indistinct mess). Buckeley eventually makes his way to what he thinks is a peaceful place, only to discover that bombs are landing in his resting area. I don’t want to go into too much detail, as this series should be read by any person with an interest in the quiet moments of a pointless war, but from there we get to meet some of the nastier (and nicer, and sadder) inhabitants of this town, Buckeley’s wife (and what she is now doing for a living, not to mention who she’s living with), and various other residents of this town. The third issue is set entirely in a bar (outside of a few flashbacks) and it’s absolutely riveting. We get to see how this war affects people and creatures from a few different walks of life, including the reason why everybody thinks Buckeley is a war hero (and the real story behind the heroism). The details of this universe are laid out bit by bit, with plenty of things still left to be uncovered. I apparently wasn’t fully convinced just from reading the first issue of this series, but reading the first three issues in this collection washes those doubts away. The quiet, deliberate nature of the revelations draws you right in and keeps you there, and I think I’m going to break my unwritten rule about not posting reviews about the same person on consecutive days and will read and review the second book tomorrow. So for long time readers, that should give you a better indication of how much I liked the first book than anything I could say here. $10
