‘The War’ Review – Haunting Graphic Novel From BOOM! Studios Proves That A Nuclear Holocaust Never Goes Out Of Style
If mankind’s oldest and deepest fear is that of the unknown, then our most celebrated hobby is pondering the absolute worst-case scenario in every situation.
This is why self-appointed heralds of the end times have existed (and profited) since the beginning of human civilization, and there have been plenty of confirmed worldwide cataclysms throughout history to justify their belligerent concerns, but that fear took on an entirely different flavor when we split the atom ninety-four years ago.
The collective dread that unites us as a species became less about floods, earthquakes, or smiteful archangels performing spiteful acts, and more about all life on Earth coming to a hideous end beneath the deathly gale of nuclear winter.
It’s time to head for the nearest bomb shelter, batten down the hatches, and protect all of your precious bodily fluids. The War is coming…
The three-issue graphic novel is from BOOM! Studios (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, BRZRKR) with the delightfully mad Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher, The Demon, Punisher MAX) on writing duties, Becky Cloonan (Batman, Wonder Woman) doing the illustrations, and Tamra Bonvillain (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Doom Patrol) adds much-needed color to the bleak landscape.
This modern take on a retro terror is set in New York City, and it’s centered around a group of highly opinionated thirtysomethings – as if there’s any other kind! Each has their own “thoughts” about an imminent nuclear war with Russia, but all conjecture is turned to ash when the bombs start dropping.
The first target is London, and it isn’t long before the nukes start hitting the cities that actually matter. Faced with radiation fallout, societal collapse, and no cell phone service, we watch as every character takes their own personal road towards oblivion, and it’s safe to say that they all share the same opinion about it.
Bleak, haunting, and well-made, this spin-off from the Hello Darkness anthology series by BOOM! is a grim look into a possible future for humanity, and one that’s still very much on the table.
It shows the nightmare unfolding from the viewpoint of each character in the group, and how irrelevant ideology becomes in the face of apocalypse. Try to imagine The Omega Man meets The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or quite possibly a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece of Cold War satire, Dr. Strangelove.
Garth Ennis is his usual charmingly cynical self, and he again shows that holding back is for the “gloopy” ones. Meanwhile, the artwork by Becky Cloonan brings this dark vision to disturbing life with a face-melting effect, and you’d better believe that pun was fully intended.
The War is set to invade the doorsteps of your local comic book shops in trade paperback format on February 29th, or you can preorder a copy over on Amazon, and it will be someone else’s fault when our beloved brick-and-mortar retail establishments face their own doomsday.
