Product Description

Renowned comics icon Joe Kubert returns to the legendary military unit he made famous in this action-packed tale based on a true story!

From North Africa to the Rhine, Sgt. Rock and his company of hard-bitten veterans have faced insurmountable odds and lived to tell the tale. But when they find themselves caught in the No Man's Land of the Balkans searching for a religious prize that could decide the outcome of World War II, have our heroes been given a mission that will stop them in their tracks?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125997 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-07
• Released on: 2007-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401212483
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Booklist
In 2003, DC revived Sgt. Rock, a mainstay of the company's 1960s and 1970s war comics--in a book written by hard-boiled scripter Brian Azzarello. Rock returns again, with artist Kubert, the creator most closely associated with the character, writing the script, too. Rock and his Easy Company parachute into Nazi-occupied Lithuania to rescue a young rabbi, whom his sect believes is the messiah, and bring him to America, where he can tell the world about the Holocaust. Rock's unit confronts not only the expected German troops--one-dimensionally villainous as ever--but also marauding Russian soldiers and anti-Semitic Estonian villagers. Kubert's present approach falls somewhere between the naivete of the original Sgt. Rock, with the invincible topkick surviving skirmish upon skirmish unscathed, and the Azzarello version's harshness. The combat is more gruesome than ever, and the anti-Semitic persecution and concentration camps are explicitly depicted. As always with Sgt. Rock, the primary appeal lies in the dynamically expressive artwork of the now-octogenarian Kubert, who is as indefatigable as his signature character. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

much better than average
i own both recent books (the other being "between a rock and a hard place"?) . all things are subjective , however , i feel this is the better of the two graphic novels . that may put me in the minority , but i feel the story is simply more meaningful and so well told . the art is , well...masterful . see what you think ?

Highly literate sequential art
Joe Kubert wrote and drew "The Prophecy;" it is a riveting story with great literary quality. Kubert avoids being trite in presenting the horrors of war, and keeps well away from glorifying war, but at the same time, shows the need, during WWII for people to defend themselves against tyranny and torture. It is a poignant story, filled with suspicious resistance fighters, traumatized war victims and enemy soldiers, that Easy Company encounters on a grueling mission, wherein they traverse, on foot, war torn and contested lands to deliver an important Jewish religious dignitary.

There are religious overtones, without being pedantic. The march is an amazing journey, a quest. There is action, as well as drama, and the scene where Easy Company is captured by a platoon of Germans, but is ultimately saved by Rock, is gripping. The scene, and story is underscored by Easy's pure confidence in Rock.

There are wonderful poignant scenes as Bulldozer, a big, gruff soldier, adopts a puppy and carries it in his shirt throughout the trek. Bulldozer caring for this little dog is a great device, and though it is time-worn, Kubert uses it very well. Soldiers die in this story, on both sides, with Kubert neither sugar coating the drama, nor exploiting it to make banal statements. The plot moves at a good clip, but retains a moody, noir quality. The mission drives the soldiers, and it drives the story, and Kubert is able to bring the reader along, through the muck, the snow, the danger, and the moments of lightness. You feel like you've been on a journey after you've read it.

Kubert's line and figure work have always been among the best in comics. He makes a tremendous use of blacks, shadow and silouette. The dark, grim, unshaven faces of the men, the intensity in their eyes, is all deepened by Kubert's use of blacks. The art is spare, at times, with powerful imagery, in other places it's detailed, giving the reader a scaffold to explore.

The comic is well colored - by hand, rather than by computer, so the color does not have that cold technical quality. The shadings are far more subtle than in a computer colored comic, so Kubert's illustration work and use of chiascuro creates depth, rather than using bold colorings to create depth that plague so many modern computer colored comics.

The violence in the comic is never gratuitous or gorey, but is used to ramp up the action, and as a backdrop for Kubert's concepts. Kubert explores different themes, about the nature of humanity; the cold suspicion and calculated approach to violence that is necessary in oppressed people's, who must use unconventional means to defeat a stronger enemy. The plight of Jews during WWII as they battled against prejudice, at the same time battling Nazism, and the holocaust. Kubert explores the strength of leadership, what qualities make a good leader, and how a solid leader can get a group of people to achieve beyond their limitations.

Kubert also explores the nature of faith, the power of truth, the importance one person can have in the fight for a cause. He explores the nature of respect for such people, and for faith, but still leaves the reader at the end to make her or his own conclusions.

I cannot recommend this work enough. And I was not much of a fan of war comics, but I have to say "The Prophecy" piqued my interest, and I have looked for more of Kubert's war work because of it. I came to Kubert through Tarzan and Tor, and some of his westerns, so "The Prophecy" really opened my mind to war comics as a valuable form, if handled well.

Kubert Reigns
This book is worth buying just for Joe Kubert's amazing artwork. Like a fine wine, Kubert gets better with age. Other reviewers have complained about the "rough" nature of the pencil and ink work in "Prophecy." In my opinion, contemporary comics suffer from overworking the pencils anyway: too much ink, too much computer color. Kubert's style, despite his age, remains refreshing. Kubert's work carries the story along visually like a comic should.
Fax from Sarajevo
Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & a Hard Place