I'm not really a fan of the war genre in any form of popular fiction, but when it's done right, one cannot deny the appeal of the action and drama. Chuck Dixon takes the Wildstorm character of Deathblow and divests him of the superhuman elements, opting instead to tell a straight-out war/espionage story. I'm surprised and impressed to find that one needn't be familiar with the ins and outs of the Wildstorm Universe in order to appreciate this story; Dixon tells a fresh story here, unhindered by continuity. Doug Mahnke's intense, edgy style is an excellent choice for a war story, as he conveys the characters' grit with seeming ease. My one concern about this title is that it will eventually take Deathblow and other soldiers back into the realm of the super-hero genre, addressing continuity over characterization.
It's 1944, and the war is turning to the Allied Forces' favor, but there are reasons for it beyond what the history books tell us. The war is fought on many fronts, and some of them are quiet ones. The U.S. intelligence community has missions of its own to fulfill, and winning the war is only one of its objectives. Beating enemies and allies to the punch when it comes to snatching up technology and brainpower is also the name of the game, and when the impossible needs to be accomplish, they turn to one man to lead suicide missions. A man by the name of Collins is somthing of an unknown soldiers, but when he does come up in the files, he's known as Codename: Deathblow.
Sandra Hope's inks bring a slightly more convention and accessible tone to Mahnke's extreme line art, but his style is far from submerged. As the opening splash page demonstrates, Mahnke's penchant for intensity and action is still strong. The action is hectic and chaotic, but it also flows clearly. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the art in this issue is how well the artist (aided by colorist David Baron) distinguishes between two radically different settings. The reader can almost feel the cold of the frozen backdrop in the first half of the issue, just as he can feel the Hawaiian warmth envelop the main character later on.
Dixon's script is clear and accessible, but he never sacrifices a sense of excitement, action and intrigue for the sake of exposition. The narration is convincing, and it's reminiscent of a classic Sgt. Rock riff. That scripting and the way the plot unfolds paints the impossibly tough hero as fallible, and the reader needs to have that impression of Deathblow in order to accept the impossible successes that no doubt lie ahead.
I enjoyed the juxtaposition of traditional military equipment and activity with the ancient Japanese culture Dixon has the Japanese admiral embrace early on in the issue. It grants the admiral something of a Renaissance man quality that makes one wish we were going to see more of the charactr. 7/10
