Arrowsmith vol. 1: So Smart in Their Fine Uniforms

I’ve already talked about him once this week, but this miniseries gives me cause to think about Garth Ennis again.  That’s because I think he’d hate “Arrowsmith.”  As the writer who is doing his best to singlehandedly keep the War Comics genre alive, he’s written a lot of stories about the struggles of real men and women in combat situations.  So to see writer Kurt Busiek and artist Carlos Pacheco go and do “World War I, But With Magic” is something I think would really get under his skin.  Even if the creators do a great job with their worldbuilding and conveying how idealism quickly gives way to disillusionment when confronted with the horrors of war.

If you’re wondering how far into the fantasy genre “Arrowsmith” goes, consider that its opening chapter deals with weapons research as a wizard tests a cannon that can turn those hit with its blast to glass.  It only has a 68% success rate, so they’ll need to work on that.  Then the miniseries begins its first chapter with some French soldiers in a trench being surprised by some fairies before a giant flame ogre bears down on them.  No one is having a good time here.

Then the story’s perspective shifts to the States and that of one Fletcher Arrowsmith.  He’s being amazed by the Overseas Aero Corps, soldiers who can fly with the aid of magic and their dragonling partners.  He’s starstruck by the whole experience, and between that and all the awful things the Prussians are doing to the Gallians over in Europe Fletcher is convinced that he needs to join the war effort to contribute what he can to the fight against what looks to him like capital-E Evil.

Fletcher’s optimism is maintained through the first few chapters as he joins up and goes through basic training.  There are hints that he’s in for a rude awakening here, but they’re not played up too much.  It isn’t until the third issue that the gloves start coming off and “Arrowsmith” starts feeling like a proper war story in spite of its fantastical trappings.  Which, up to this point, have honestly felt like a buffer against how bad things can get in armed conflict.

Then we get to the last two chapters and the story’s fangs come out as well.  If you had any doubt left that the creators were shying away from the horrors of war (and I’m not just talking about the form of vampire search squadrons) then these will banish them from your mind.  Just about everything you think could go wrong for Fletcher and his comrades does, but in a way that feels credible and not like the creators are trying to pile misery onto the reader.  It’s also impressive how every fantastical thing has a real-world analogue to it, which also makes the story feel more real even with all of its fantasy trappings.

It’s that mesh of trappings and real-world issues that makes “Arrowsmith” memorable and keeps its high concept from feeling like a gimmick.  This also keeps its by-the-numbers story and characters from feeling overly familiar.  For those of you who are familiar with the War Comics of Mr. Ennis or any other writer in the genre, Fletcher’s story will definitely feel like one you’ve seen before.  His arc follows the idealistic-to-disillusioned transition to a “T” without any real deviations to it.  The same goes for the struggles of his comrades and those in command as well.  Normally I’d be more annoyed by such familiarity, but having German U-boats be replaced by undersea warriors from Atlantis and their giant sea dragons is a pretty good distraction.

That this is all expertly rendered by Pacheco only helps immerse you further into this world.  While the artist has been doing clean, safe work at Marvel for the last decade or so, “Arrowsmith” is a much better showcase of what he’s capable of.  The above-mentioned sequence of the fight against the Atlanteans and their dragons, for one.  A late-volume conflagration involving some magical weapons going off and going wrong, for another.  While there’s not a tremendous amount of detail in every panel, Pacheco is given a lot of interesting stuff to draw here and he depicts it all in a way that effectively evokes its magic.

Busiek and Pacheco clearly had more plans for “Arrowsmith” after its initial publication in 2003, as evidenced in the very informative backmatter in this volume.  It’s a shame that they never got around to delivering upon it then, but we’ve still got the new miniseries to look forward to.  Even if Pacheco is only providing the covers to it.  So while this series may not impress the likes of Mr. Ennis and those who like their war comics realistic, there’s enough newness to the fusion of war and fantasy here to energize some familiar storytelling.  While also reminding us of the awfulness of war, whatever genre it takes place in.