You know, when I saw B. Clay Moore’s name on the cover, I was horrified at the thought of reading the issue. Then, as it turned out, Moore’s absolutely capable of writing a mediocre war comic. Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher apparently aren’t capable of illustrating one, but Moore fills it with so much of the standard war story dialogue… the word balloons cover the ugly, trading card static artwork.
More than anything, this issue is a testament to the strengths of the war story as a genre. Even when it’s nothing intelligent, it’s able to convey a compelling narrative.
Moore has the Losers up against some Germans, outnumbered and overwhelmed. They try, they succeed. It works.
Moore’s format is unsteady—he starts out like he’s going to give every member a fair share of pages, but he doesn’t—and he’s got weak anachronisms.
But it could be much worse.
Your criticism on war comics was spot on. While there is little to no demand for war comics these days, I thought the reason DC did them was probably to renew their copyrights. Nonetheless, fun reading for us old farts and deranged teenagers with too much knowledge about ordinance for their age.