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Jackboot & Ironheel #2
Released by: IDW Publishing
Released on: September 21st, 2016.
Written and Illustrated by Max Millgate
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Picking up directly where the first issue left off, Englishman air force tail-gunner and former pro-West Ham United Football Club member Eddie Neale has been locked away at the Lungotz Luftzig, a castle turned Nazi P.O.W camp/convent lorded over by 'SS' officer Kommandant Von-Kleist and haunted by the shambling corpse of Muggenthaler!
Muggenthaler has, it seems, returned from the grave. When this issue begins, the Kammandant is grilling a solider named Heinrich about exactly what happened and how a solider long dead could possibly have decapitated a guard. Meanwhile, Eddie talks to a sympathetic German soldier named Gunter about football, and maybe…. just maybe… they're starting to form a friendship of sorts. The next day when Gunter and another soldier are cleaning out an old store room, he finds a dirty old soccer ball and takes it with him when he leaves. He brings it to Eddie's cell just as Sister Evangeline arrives with his rations. The three of them play around a bit in the cell until the Mother Superior shows up and puts a stop to it.
Meanwhile, two soldiers, Wilhelm and Muller, are out looking for the Kommandant's lost dog. They get separated and Wilhelm gets his leg caught in a bear trap just as the dog, rabid and seemingly hungry, appears, its eyes glowing an eerie shade of green! It doesn't end well for Wilhelm but Muller wins the day and does away with the beast by tossing it into a pond where it's pulled under by some massive tentacles. The Kommandant is not happy about this, not at all. But Mother Superior? Well, she has a talk with Eddie, it seems she might be able to help him escape, but of course, there's still the matter of Muggenthaler to deal with. Nothing can be easy.
This series is, so far, a Hell of a lot of fun. It's got some quirky characters, clever dialogue and just the right amount of zombie action and creepy Lovecraftian imagery to pull you in, and the World War II era setting somehow suits all of this perfectly. Max Millgate paces his story well, giving us some good character development here and clearly building relationships that will become more important in coming issues, but also delivering a decent bit of action as well. The artwork is nice, heavy line work and loaded with atmosphere. At times it shows a bit of a Mike Mignola influence but Millgate's style is definitely his own. Aside from a few panels in the last couple of pages that could have used a bit more background detail, the visuals here are really strong. The castle interiors and exteriors look great and show off some really cool architectural designs, while the threats of both Muggenthaler and the dog are nicely rendered. The coloring gives things a lot of shadowy tone as well.
This is good entertainment, those with a taste for black comedy and WWII/Nazi zombie stories really ought to get a kick out of this.
