Sara

Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Steve Epting
Colour by Elizabeth Breitweiser

TKO Studios is two for two with me now, as I found Sara to be as impressive as Goodnight Paradise.

In Sara, Garth Ennis returns to the Second World War, looking this time at the female Russian snipers deployed to slow the Nazi advance into Russian territory in 1942.  The group of women, all of whom have distinguished themselves at their task, form a kind of family, inhabiting a building left unstable from a tank collision, and going out during the day to hunt, well past the protection of the Russian Army.

Among the group, Sara stands out as the most accomplished, but also the least patriotic, something that her squad leader has noticed, and is working hard to hide from Raisa, the political operative assigned to the girls.

Ennis's best war stories tend to feature female protagonists (I'm thinking of the first wave of Battlefields books here), and this one is no different.  Sara is a layered and complex character, fighting for her own motives, and holding on to most of her opinions.  She's not blind to the use of propaganda, and the corruption and evil on her side of the war.  Still, she's made a vow to kill every German she sees.

TKO's books are published on very nice paper, and that helps Steve Epting's pencils and Elizabeth Breitweiser's gorgeous colours really stand out.  This book is beautiful, and the characters begin to feel very real.

At this point, you start to wonder if Ennis could possibly have more to say about war, but he always manages to surprise with a solid, meticulously researched story that leaves you thinking and caring about a perspective you might not have considered before.  I recommend this book, and am starting to think it's worth checking out everything TKO Studios is publishing.

Goodnight Paradise

Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Alberto Ponticelli

Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli collaborated on one of my all-time favourite Vertigo comics, Unknown Soldier.  In their telling, they shifted the general idea behind the classic character to war-torn Uganda, and gave us one of the freshest and most interesting war comics I've ever read.  After that, Dysart made himself the backbone of Valiant's relaunch, writing Harbinger, the excellent Imperium, and The Life and Death of Toyo Harada.

Recently, Dysart and Ponticelli reconnected to create Goodnight Paradise for new publisher TKO Studios (more on them in a bit).  This brilliant and gorgeous graphic novel (or, if you prefer, six-issue miniseries) is set in Venice Beach, an area that is rapidly gentrifying and changing from the down-and-out haven for the homeless and lost that it's always been to the new home of Snapchat and hundreds of Airbnb units.

The main character is Eddie, an aging drunk who sleeps in the yard of a house near the beach, and spends his days drinking beer and hanging out with some of his friends.  News that his estranged son, Jeronimo, might be coming for a visit, sends Eddie spiralling a little, and it becomes apparent to us that he might not be the most mentally stable of people.  At the same time, we see that he cares deeply about his community and the people who make it up.  He shows concern for Tessa, a young woman who isn't doing well, and later, ends up finding her body (and her dog's) in a dumpster.

From here, Eddie takes it on himself to try to figure out what happened to the girl, which takes him down a rabbit hole of shady real estate dealings, drug dealers, and the kind of people looking to exploit young homeless women for money.

This is a very intelligent book, which works hard to not reduce any of these characters to stereotypes or archetypal portrayals.  It feels like Dysart understands these characters and the challenges faced by communities like this, and was careful to be fair to them.

Ponticelli, for his part, kills on this book.  The art is a mix of drawn and painted pages (with colour art provided by Giulia Brusco), and it captures the look and feel of Venice Beach, based on my memories of a day spent there a few years ago, beautifully.  The juxtaposition of the beach, sun, and surf with the squalor of the homeless encampments is poignant, but like in Dysart's writing, Ponticelli gives everyone great dignity.

This is the first book I've read from TKO Studios, a new publisher that is testing out some unconventional practices.  They are not distributing their books through Diamond, but instead through their own site.  Readers have the choice to purchase the trade paperback (which is slightly oversized and on high quality paper) or to buy the six-issue series as individual comics, packaged in a slipcase.  I'm not sure how I feel about that model.  I love serialization, but if I'm reading the story all at once, I'd prefer it be in one book.  Anyway, I've picked up two more of their first wave titles, and have preordered one of the upcoming releases.  They have some high quality creators working with them, and I'm excited to see what else they are going to have for us.