War Story: D-Day Dodgers

Written by Garth Ennis
Art by John Higgins

I'm really enjoying these stories, and am annoyed with myself for not tracking them down sooner.

This issue is about the Allied forces; mostly British, Irish, Scottish, and Canadian, that continued fighting in Italy during the D-Day campaign. As the world's focus shifted to France, as did most of the Allied war material, public opinion painted those left in Italy as 'dodgers', the Lady Astor going so far as to say so in Parliament.

Ennis shows us the Italian campaign through the eyes of a replacement Lieutenant, fresh out of England, who has to earn the respect of his mostly Irish subordinates, and deal with a fatalistic Captain.

Higgins art is luminous, as he portrays the beauty of Italy, contrasted to the devastation of war. The book ends with a series of full-page spreads that are stunning.