Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and A Hard Place (Graphic Novel - Paperback)

Original Sgt. Rock series illustrator and industry legend Joe Kubert returns and teams up with Eisner-award winning writer () Brian Azzarello to craft a thoughtfully grim, yet thoroughly entertaining morality cum murder mystery tale in the middle of World War II. This is the revised paperback edition of the graphic novel, released December 1 2004. The original hardcover was released by DC Comics in July 1, 2003. Those not familiar with the Sgt. Rock comics need not worry because Azzarello introduces Sarge and the men of Easy Company right at the start. Great stuff.

This thought-provoking hardcover presents a tale that calls into question the double standards of humanity and morality during wartime. In the midst of a covert World War II mission, Sgt. Rock discovers that four of his prisoners were brutally murdered during the night. With the fifth and only surviving prisoner on the run, the Sergeant must determine if the cold-blooded murderer is a member of Easy Company or the German escapee. A moralistic murder mystery set against the backdrop of war, this book examines the fine line between being a heroic soldier and a sadistic killer. SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS. --

Some reviews: For more than 30 years, legendary comics artist Kubert (Yossel) drew and occasionally wrote stories for Our Army At War, a war comic chronicling Sergeant Frank Rock and "the combat happy Joes of Easy Company" as they fought their way through Europe during WWII. Kubert's stark, mood-saturated drawings set Sgt. Rock apart as a classic. After many years away from the character, Kubert has teamed up with Eisner Award-winning writer Azzarello (100 Bullets) to produce an impressive and often moving graphic novel that showcases the development of Kubert's powerful, understated drawings. It's 1944 and Easy Company is battling through the Hurtgen Forest toward the German town of Grosshau. Out on patrol, the men of Easy Company - among them Bulldozer, Ice Cream Soldier, Wildman and Little Sure Shot - take four SS officers prisoner. But after the fighting, they return to their prisoners only to find that three of them have been murdered, shot at point blank range. The fourth prisoner has disappeared, forcing Rock to solve a murder mystery: is the killer from Easy Company, or is it the vanished officer? Azzarello contributes a fine script, taut with looming danger and the fatalistic humor of soldiers facing combat. Sadly, the ending (Rock and the killer banter while a beautiful French woman looks on) seems contrived and disappointing. Nevertheless, this is a terrific war yarn that conveys some measure of the grim courage and despair of American WWII infantrymen. -- Sgt. Rock is synonymous with the war comics that flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, before Vietnam changed the pop-cultural climate. This upscale graphic-novel revival teams Rock's original artist, the venerable Kubert, with scripter Azzarello, known for his hard-boiled contemporary comic-book thrillers. Grittier and grislier than the original, this Sgt. Rock is more Band of Brothers than the larger-than-life heroics of the old war genre. As the battle-scarred troops of Easy Company take some green replacements through their baptism of fire, they must ferret out who is behind the brutal murder of three German prisoners. Besides heightened realism and more gruesome combat scenes than were permissible four decades ago, Azzarello adds moral ambiguity to Easy Company's exploits and his trademark mordant dialogue. And Kubert, who recently released an ambitious graphic novel about the Holocaust, Yossel, has never been better in his 60-year career. Revisiting one of his signature characters, his solid mastery shows on every page of this proof that there's life yet in a genre long fallen into neglect. -- Artist Joe Kubert doing Sgt Rock again...for most fans of the original Rock of Easy Company, that is all you need to say. And Between Hell and a hard place, it is a graphic delight. War comics were a staple of DC and Marvels comic line (Rock, Haunted Tank, The Losers, Unknown Soldier for DC, Sgt Fury for Marvel)in the 1960-1990's. Then suddenly they (like the Westerns genre) vanished from the comic lines-to be overtaken by the Superheroes with their Crisis's, Secret Wars and now their Civil Wars. With the writing talent of Brian Azzarello (from the comic 100 Bullets) and Kubert at the pen, This taut graphic novel is both a tribute to the DC war line and a great visual tale. It also hearkens back to the days of Bob Kanigher (writer) and Kubert (inks) in the orginal Our Army at War books. It is a war story with a mystery thrown in and it works on many levels. If you haven't read Sgt Rock before, dont worry...you wont be lost-Azzarello reintroducers the reader to Rock and his Easy Company. The art seems almost like a movie flying outta the books. This isn't a KID's comic book, it is WAR with all the dirt and grit. It is not pretty, but it is great storytelling. --

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