White Death

Written by: Rob Morrison
Art by: Charlie Adlard

White Death is another war book in a different vein than Azzarello and Kubert's Sgt. Rock. First of all, it's set in WWI rather than Rock's WWII. Second of all, Morrison conveys his message with a heavy-handedness that isn't present in Azzarello's book. Azzarello lets the interactions between his characters speak to his ultimate message of emotional conflict and the search for some kind of basic battlefield morality. Morrison's characters simply spout philosophical musings about the nature of war. Here's an excerpt, spoken by the big, bad Sergeant-Major Orsini (the kind of guy who orders his soldiers to hold the line with no strategic purpose):

"Forget what you've thought, what you've been told. This is war. And this is my line of the trenches."

Orsini's Front."

There's no 'live and let live' system here. Kill. Or be killed".

One hundred and thirty-one miles of trenches separate us and the Austro-Hungarians. Their May offensive pushed us back ten miles. We've won back the ground we lost since then, but we're not going to rest easy in stalemate."

The government wants their land. The generals want victory."

I want their blood."

I should point out that Orsini isn't speaking to anyone in this monologue. He's actually relating exposition to himself within the context of the narrative.


The cover of White Death

That's the name of the game with the characters in White Death: muttering cliches about the horrors of war under their breath even as they carry a wounded soldier on their shoulders with mortar shells exploding behind them. Morrison tries to force profundity while Azzarello's war story allows the reader to decipher the deeper meaning from his narrative.

The art in White Death, however, suits the story well. Adlard uses chalk and charcoal on gray paper, which lends the art a certain ephemeral quality (like the soldiers' lives in the narrative) while making the snow--the "white death" of the title--stand out on the page. It's worthwhile to thumb through White Death because of its art, but you needn't waste your time reading the thing. It's nothing you haven't read before.

D

Like what you see? Drop us an email at: [Nick] bungalowjones@hotmail.com, [Drew] gronix@excite.com, [ESkalac] skalac@uiuc.edu or [Kate] katedickson@occultmail.com