• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Sep 13, 2011 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nisen

Men of War #1 seeks to reset the Sgt. Rock war stories in a modern age, complete with DC Superhero trappings. The backup story (concerning Navy SEALs and meriting an extra buck over most DC Comics prices), is a story without those trappings, more of a conventional military specialist tale.

One’s okay. The other’s not.

Regarding Joseph Rock: I enjoyed the art, and the visual juxtaposition of regular (though elite) military troops next to superbeings was fairly chilling to witness. The dialog was a touch jargony and exposition-filled, but I feel like I know Joe Rock (he’s a dick, but “our” dick, I guess) and Sgt. Torisi, who becomes his superior officer. The story is about Rock’s transition from the regular army into Torisi’s elite unit and, aside from the very last cheesy line of dialog, finishes quite strong and action packed. Overall, I liked it fine.

Regarding The Navy SEALs story: not my cup of tea. Lots of jargon/acronyms/rah rah kinda stuff, and the story—mostly concerning two SEALs finding a gun-toting youth who turns out to be a human shield/hostage—just seemed pedestrian. Raises the question: are people who want to see military vs. superhero stories the same people that want to read seemingly ripped from the headlines stories of the “real” military? I didn’t like the shift in scope nor tone. The art was fine.

Regarding the cover: The very cool cover by Viktor Kalvachev may have been marred (I’ll stop short of calling it “ruined”) by what I suspect to be a little post-production labeling of the soldier’s dog tags with “Rock.” Just incongruous. Bad choice.

Interested—not jazzed, but interested—to see where the first story goes. Without the backup story, a solid “six.” But an extra buck for something I didn’t care for drags it down. (www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 4/10