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ADVENTURES IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE: OPERATION BOLLOCK #1
"Back to Blighty"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Carlos Ezquerra
Colors: Kevin Somers & Jamison
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Tony Bedard
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
The first Adventures in the Rifle Brigade mini closed with the words "The Rifle Brigade will return!" and I remember wondering at the time why, because it seemed that the concept had been milked for all the jokes it could have been already. Turns out I was right, because this issue, while featuring a couple of chuckles, will feel awfully familiar to fans of the first series, and reads mostly like one of those Saturday Night Live
skits that keeps going long after the joke has stopped being funny. It's Ennis,
so it's still better than average, but like so much of his work these days, it
reads like he's just not trying very hard.
The newest joke in this series, the really
funny one, concerns the object of the Rifle Brigade's mission, but that joke is
pretty well explored in the splash page of issue one, which shows an enormous
testicle looming over forces of Nazi might on the move. It's funny, and the
"action movie trailer" style exposition that accompanies it makes it even
funnier. The rest of the gags are pretty familiar: the Rifle Brigade's
incompetence and one-note dialogue, the danger they pose to normal society and
of course Doubtful's barely-concealed sexual desire for Captain Milk. There are
some fun moments with the civilian lives of the crew, particularly Milk's
bizarre family, but rather than explore these untouched areas of the characters,
Ennis mostly just delivers the same one-note characterization as they're
gathered up for the mission.
While I could have used a bit more of a
change from the first issue in regards to story, I'm glad that the artist hasn't
changed. Many of the jokes, including the Piper's homicidal madness and the
disaster of sending the Brigade on a demolitions mission, work solely on the
basis of Ezquerra's hilarious art, and he is terrific at depicting the strange
and violent situations that the Brigade find themselves in.
All in all, however, it's hard to view this as anything but a disappointment. If you somehow missed out on the first Adventures in the Rifle Brigade and you're a fan of
Ennis's comedy, you'll probably enjoy it a great deal, as the jokes won't seem
quite so stale. If, however, you were a fan of the first series and were hoping
for a sequel that made you laugh as much as the first one, I'm afraid you may be
in for an unpleasant surprise.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
