Uber vol. 4

The delicate balance of terror in this series continues to be maintained through this volume.  After it was revealed in vol. 3 that the Nazis have Uber spies with their own special abilities, the issue of ferreting out the one in Bletchley Park becomes an issue here.  Not the key issue as writer Kieron Gillen spends this volume jumping between several different threads:  The activation of several new Battleships on the American front (where concerns about the first African-American one are raised), Russian Destroyer Katyusha and her efforts to reclaim the motherland and subsequent conflict with Battleship Sieglinde, and Josef Goebbels’ plan for the rest of the war and how to make the best use of the idea of Hitler.  All this and Alan Turing gets his badass credentials certified here as well!

It’s another solid volume with plenty of drama on all sides of the war.  Even though America is finally getting their superhuman program going, this is after their atomic bomb program was utterly compromised by an Uber espionage specialist.  While the Germans suffer a crushing defeat on the Russian front, they’re about to come right back with their own “scorched earth” program.  Then you’ve got the Russians who may have the most powerful Battleship of them all, but she’s also one they have no real control over.  Add in the many personal agendas being advanced and fought over here, and the narrative going forward looks to be quite strong.  Granted, the special issue focusing on the first kills of the three key Uber Battleships doesn’t connect as well as it should and the art remains as competent and outlandishly gory as ever without ever crossing the line into spectacular.  As for who’s going to win the war now, I can’t really say.  That being said, I will keep reading as long as the question remains as compelling as it’s presented here.