Haunted Tank #2

Written by Frank Marraffino
Art by Henry Flint

This continues to be an amusing little series from a writer I'm completely unfamiliar with. A quick Google search shows that he's written a few things for Tokyopop, but I don't really read their stuff (unless it's by Cloonan or Graham - you know, the people they stopped publishing).

This issue sheds a little more light on the ghost Stuart, while he and the living Stuart (referred to here as the 'nigrah' Stuart) continue to trade quips of a racial nature. There is a fantastic moment where the living Stuart explains to the ghost Stuart that pretty much any variation of the n-word are completely unacceptable, while his friends rap in the background.

None of these exchanges would work so well if it weren't for Flint's ability to convey facial expressions. He does this as well as Kevin Maguire in this book.

My only complaint is that I'm not sure about the accuracy of the way in which they are portraying the first days of the Iraq war. I don't think that American forces were confronted with jihadist fighters, and I know for certain that they weren't expecting suicide bombers. Really, the beginning was a conventional war between the American and Iraqi armies - it's portrayal here rings false, and perhaps can be considered guilty of the same stereotyping that the ghost is accused of.