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THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #2
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: David Finch
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
I enjoyed the first issue of The Call of Duty: The Brotherhood, but there was a disjointed tone to the storytelling, mainly due to the piecing together of the various Call of Duty backup stories published previously in a variety of other Marvel titles. Here, a greater degree of focus comes into play, and reinforcing the shocking reality that's at the heart of this human drama.
Lt. James MacDonald and his crew continue to battle the crack-house blaze. Two of his men spot the mysterious little blonde girl who's been turning up at various New York emergency scenes over the past week, but the real cause for concern is the fire that the neighborhood is stoking with even more firebombs. That's bad news for one of the newer guys in the company. Meanwhile, Jen, the attractive EMT that MacDonald met earlier in the week, touches base again, curious about what's happening with the strange little girl.
Finch's art certainly brings out the uglier tone of this story. He captures the quiet, desperate and intense horror that a blaze can present, especially in a key scene when a fireman is trapped inside a burning house. The characters exhibit a subtle pain, a slow torture of noble spirits. Their faces remind the reader of the real risk that these individuals face as a routine part of their jobs, a level of risk that's easy to forget.
The supernatural plotline that's stringing everything together is toned down here, and the book bolsters in the strength as a result. It shifts the spotlight back on characterization and the profession that the creators are exploring. I was also pleased to find a politically incorrect tone in some snippets of dialogue, reinforcing the realism of the characters and circumstances.
The overall tone of this story so far is "if only you knew." Before Sept. 11, few of us ever gave firefighters a second thought. Afterwards, we joined together to hail them as heroes. Austen's script, though, ignores those extremes. He presents these men as regular Joes who have a job to do. They lose their tempers, they bury their feelings. They mess up their marriages, too, and make crass jokes. But there's still something special about them. We can tell, but as easy as it is to relate to them, we can't fathom how they manage to do what they do, let alone want to do it.
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