Indy Friday Episode #2 by Benita Story

This week is Lost Squad written by Chris Kirby, art by Alan Robinson, published by Devil’s Due

I hope you enjoyed last week’s review of Vögelein by Jane Irwin and went to her website to not only check out her books, but to order it as well. 

This week’s independent comic is about as opposite in feel and story as last week’s as you can possibly get. Whereas Vögelein is about a sweet little clockwork fairy, Lost Squad is set in World War II, mostly behind enemy lines and deals with Nazi Magi, demons, religious artifacts and some soldiers with very specialized abilities.

For starters, this isn’t the usual comic book fare for me.  I’m not into books about the darker elements of the supernatural, but for some reason, this book caught my eye while perusing the tables in Artists Alley at Wizard World Chicago in June.  I stopped and spoke with the writer Chris Kirby, about one of the nicest and most enthusiastic independent creators I have ever met, and discovered more about what his story is about.  I ended by buying his graphic novel, and last night, I finally got down to reading it.

For this not being the type of story I generally read, I have to admit that it immediately grabbed me, pulled me in and kept be sitting on the edge of my seat through the entire book.  I would compare this book to “The Dirty Dozen” war movie of the late 1960’s crossed with the first and third Indiana Jones movies.  This group of soldiers have been hand-picked for the “weird missions” as quoted by one of the soldiers himself in the book, and they, in turn, take on one of the horsemen of Revelations’ Apocalypse, a couple of Nazi magi who are controlling a group of undead and/or demons, and lots of gun-wielding Nazi soldiers and commanders.

My one, and only, complaint about the book is simply this:  In the black and white art, it is at times difficult to tell the difference between some of the main characters (the Chicago Boys and Sarge are especially difficult to tell the difference between).  Also the stark, black and white art makes some of the panels hard to figure out.  Perhaps if some gray-scaling had been done, this would have helped.

That being said, it is understood that this series of comics have been optioned for a movie, and it should be a really action and magic packed one when it is released.  If you like down and dirty historical war stories with the supernatural thrown in for added spice, then pick up Lost Squad.  It’s an exciting read.