Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & a Hard Place

Artist Joe Kubert doing Sgt Rock again...for most fans of the original Rock of Easy Company, that is all you need to say. And Between Hell and a hard place, it is a graphic delight. War comics were a staple of DC and Marvels comic line (Rock, Haunted Tank, The Losers, Unknown Soldier for DC, Sgt Fury for Marvel)in the 1960-1990's. Then suddenly they (like the Westerns genre) vanished from the comic lines-to be overtaken by the Superheroes with their Crisis's, Secret Wars and now their Civil Wars With writing talent of Brian Azzarello (from the comic 100 Bullets) and Kubert at the pen, This taut graphic novels is both a tribute to the DC war line and a great visual tale. It is also like it harkens back to the days of Bob Kanigher (writer) and Kubert (inks) in the orginal Our Army at War books. It is a war story with a mystery thrown in and it works on many levels If you haven't read Sgt Rock before, dont worry...you wont be lost-Azzarello reintroducers the reader to Rock and his Easy Company. The art seems almost like a movie flying outta the books. This isn't a KID's comic book, it is WAR with all the dirt and grit. It is not pretty, but it is great storytelling Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

A must have for any SGT. Rock fan, or anyone who is crazy about WW2.

I came of age during the 1960s, when the foreboding glare of the previous decade's McCarthyism gave way to both the hope of a new day's tolerance, and the despair that Peace and Justice didn't come all at once. Vietnam was a deadly cancer of that despair, but that misguided conflict was but a terrible symptom of the larger conflict waged within our hearts between ethical clarity and convenient viewpoints. The names may be different from Nixon, Faubus, Falwell and Hoover, and many of the places are a distance from Southeast Asia, but make no mistake: That conflict, as old as Creation, still wages as hotly today within and without our minds and our souls. What, you may ask, does all this have to do with a fresh tale about an Army Sergeant from World War II? In the vertigo of 1960s comics, much fuss was stirred over a war comic at Marvel, about a bunch of superheroes in khakis who whooped it up whenever they went into battle. Interesting band that SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMNADOS were, they never quite came across as soldiers. Even when the element of Death was introduced into their narrative, it always came across as an afterthought for the sake of plot, never as the grim, steady product that War is so efficient at producing. A purely 1960s production, SGT. FURY would be eclipsed by the looming landscape of the very real, highly traumatic real-life subject painting a deadlier drama on the day's nightly news than anything the Howlers breezed through. Over at DC, however, War was depicted as the nasty business that it has always been. No flag- waving propaganda machine here, the War comics which came from DC (ENEMY ACE, THE LOSERS, OUR FIGHTING FORCES, etc.) always depicted the blunt & ugly reality of what a dirty business War is, and how the only good of War is in its ending. The tales of SGT. ROCK and EASY CO. rank as pinnacles of this genre, its original tales by author Robert Kanigher and illustrator Joe Kubert a worthy complement to the 1940s chronicles of master cartoonist Bill Maudlin, and his tireless reporting of what was happening with ordinary Joes sweating it out on the Front. Laughter in the midst of despair, courage in the crucibles of white-hot fear, compassion delivered in tension-filled moments between blood to be spilled and turf to be held. All this and more spell the exploits of EASY CO. and its battle- tested non-com; getting it done in the hope that, maybe, they'll live to get home. This is the powerful heart that beats through BETWEEN HELL AND A HARD PLACE, the gripping DC/Vertigo Sequential Novel which places ROCK and EASY in the thick of even deeper conflict, with burning questions about prisoner abuse and combat honor which are as pertinent in days of holy terror and oil-pimping as it was in the days of "good wars". Acclaimed Vertigo Editor Karen Berger brought the legendary Joe Kubert aboard for a new project on SGT. ROCK, some 45 years after co-creating the character! It was Kubert who suggested a

I used to love comics like sgt. rock and g.i. combat as a kid, and this hardcover novel really brought me back. A great story, great art, it had me holding my breath like i was a kid again! I wish they would do a graphic novel like this for the unknown soldier, jeb stuart, all of the old war comic greats...

Simply put, if you love the art form and are a fan of movies like Kelly's Heroes, The Dirty Dozen, and especially recent outings like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this is for you.The art is great, as should be expected from a true master such as Kubert. Comparing this to his previous work on the characters (back in the 70's), you can see how much he has grown as an artist. It's classic Kubert through and through.Give it a shot, especially at the price they're offering here.