4 out of 5

I have not been very favorable to Garth’s more recent efforts, or rather, the ones I praise have seemed to be the exception.  While this criticism does seem to be cascading chronologically backwards as well, I’d still say there seemed to have been a shift at one point (which I tie to The Boys) where Ennis’ work no longer rang quite as genuine.  He still loved war, and loved brotherhood, and still had a disregard for all of the ‘assumed’ and unconscious aspects of the human condition which cause us to act like such jerks to one another, but at the same time, did Garth still feel this way, or was he just going through the motions?

Crossed seemed to require the writer to dig deep into his darkest concerns and express them in a setting that necessitated stripping the presentation of much of his trademark flourishes; like the MAX tone of his adult Punisher run from some time back, the limitation may have been the key: Both of those series (besides a later, minor misstep with Crossed) have been some of the best writing Garth has ever done.

War books should encourage the same, but Garth has flipped through various styles within that genre, embracing romanticism or finding ways to let out his inner giggling-at-poop-and-pee kid.  He also can’t de-train a history of writing comic books, which means enough of his war stories have been tainted by forced subplots and cliffhangers and Ennis humor as there have been ones that capture the wonder and horror in balance.

At the same time as Johnny Red, Garth dropped Dreaming Eagles, another war book, which, to me, suffered majorly from a lack of focus and those notions I mention above – a superficial “comicness” to it, and some rose-tinted war wankerism.  It’s one of my least enjoyed Garth books I’ve read.  I feared for Johnny Red.   But: Johnny Red is one of the best Garth books I’ve read – standing alongside or even on the shoulders of some of his classic Vertigo War Stories one-shots – and is an excellent standalone series besides.

What made the difference?

At a high level, I’m going to point to the publisher.  Focusing specifically on Eagles vs. Red, the former is at Aftershock Comics, run by Desperado guy Joe Pruett.  While it’s a creator-owned publisher, the line thus far has leaned more toward comicy stylings, i.e. rather fantastical stuff.  Dreaming Eagles stuck out a bit.  While I have zero insight into Garth’s process or any guidance he may have been given from Aftershock, that Dreaming seemed a bit more intent on trying to bow to comic book tricks seems like a notable difference. Meanwhile, at Titan, while their floppy comic line is relatively newer, the imprint does already have an established reputation as a reprinter of both classic and foreign material, and thus their comics have carried with them an inherited openness and almost a responsibility to quality in regard to the reproduced stuff.  Just the tone would make me write for them a bit differently.

Also at a high level, and along these lines: Titan, and Johnny Red, are both closer to home for Garth.  The publisher is UK based, and Red originally comes from Battle, a  youth-geared war mag that was also a very British publication.  Garth read this book as a youngster and it was certainly an influence; being handed the keys to oversee Titan’s Johnny Red reprints probably carried with it that aforementioned responsibility to do right by the character, and to best serve his memory of him.

Now, more directly: The people by which Garth was supported, namely Keith Burns on art, Jason Wordie on colors, and Rob Steen on letter.  In an interview with Burns in one of the 8 issues backmatter, the artist – who had a Garth-like fetish for war imagery – talks about trying to constantly figure humans into his painting work (of planes and ships), as he feels the connection for the viewer is essentially required.  He also mentions constantly considering the dynamics of the shot, and how he carried that over to his comic panels.  Now, 99% of the war books I’ve read have been written by Ennis, but nonetheless: Art is a massive component, and its rare in the genre that I ever really connected with it.  The artists either got too detail obsessed and lost the motion of the page, or simply didn’t know how to make battling planes and dudes in similar looking costumes seem distinct enough from panel to panel.  But with Burns’ comment, I’m now wondering if it’s just that human element, because that’s what I got from Keith’s art, which made it not only somehow easy to follow, but also incredibly engaging.  Specifically, I can’t pinpoint the technique, but on some level, I just felt more drawn in by the page.  And regarding the dynamics, while the way Keith’s camera moves during fairly static conversations seems odd at first, he’s actually just tracking the focus like our eyes would, shifting or drifting off-center, and it really adds a sense of momentum that’s important in a book like this; nothing ever feels like it can completely stand still.

Wordie’s colors floored me.  Burns’ flip-flops between using heavily detailed pages and then leaving the background open, and in both cases Wordie had him covered with these astounding oil-like blends in the background and soft, but flatter tones foe the foreground that worked amazingly well with Burns’ loose but expressive lines.  But this wasn’t a one-trick act: On occasion, Wordie would get a very open page to play with and her switch to a more seamless fade, which would support the purposeful starkness of the page.  I love books that feature muted settings and characters in same-colored uniforms that still manage to pop on every page and panel.

Steen’s lettering, while particularly unshowy, is well-suited to the wordy Garth (and, indeed, they’ve worked together several times I think).  His balloon tails sometimes point slightly oddly, but this is super minor; he otherwise has a nicely flexible bubble that wraps the text undistractingly, but his placement is what’s aces, as he’s able to wrangle crowded panels and a lot of words without interrupting the flow or art.  Take a careful looks at where he chooses to overlap bubbles or tuck under or over borders or the artwork; its a subtle effect, but an incredibly important one that he really does well with in each issue.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DANG STORY?

Oh, you kids nowadays and your stories. Back in my day – y’know, 90s Image – we didn’t have such silly concerns.

I will offer my one main criticism of Johnny Red upfront: The framing story.  Now, this is by no means a point on which you should pivot away from this book, as I was otherwise gripped by it, and wrapped up in the narrative in that I-care-about -these-characters-right-away sense I don’t often get, but I did note certain things about the frame while reading, so it should be cited.  Namely: That it’s a little wonky.  On the one hand, I understand its use and think it was actually a great idea – having a present day plane-restoration guy research his Hurricane’s history and being thus told the story of its pilot, Mr. Johnny Redburn – but when the story starts to drift away from the plane and to Red and his compatriots, Garth falls into the common flashback / frame trap of having to rejustify its use, and “fake” how or why we might see scenes that the teller / framer wouldn’t be privy to.  The core story is so distracting it’s not a huge deal, but still, noticed.  And again, I think it was smart to lead us in, and overall intros / outros the story well, but it’s a tough narrative mechanism to pull of seamlessly.  Secondly, while I’d say Ennis does put focus, first and foremost, on the story he wants to tell, he can’t help but have a couple of (I assume) nods to classic JR characters, and I further have to assume that not a lot of us are going to be classic JR readers, so these “reveals” fall a little flat and feel wedged in.

Minor concerns overall.

Otherwise…  As prattled on at length above, whatever elements just aligned perfectly to keep Ennis on point.  Johnny, a disgraced British pilot who comes to lead a Russian flight crew, would seem to fit the role of Garth’s typical altruistic male leads, bit he’s so much more human and grounded than that, especially because he’s surrounded by equally human characters, both good and bad.  Yakob is a good example: The character is a brute who should be the strip’s dumb comic relief, but he’s just another brave soul with opinions who happens to be big and bearded.  Nina, leader of the all-female Night Witches, should give Garth the opportunity to do his strong-woman shtick, bit, again, she’s just written like a (if larger than life foe being fictional) real person, fears and strengths and frustrations.  Safonov, a superior officer who comes bearing secret missions, should be a cardboard cut-out; a blubbering power-monger.  Nope.  Just another cog.  Ennis smartly seeds this through an actual story arc – as opposed to just general war coverage – getting us up to speed with Johnny and then sending his squadron out on a questionable escort mission that ends up having a damned stunning purpose.  And appreciably, without grinding our noses against the “pointlessness of war” millstone, Johnny Red makes its observations that much more effective in their reticence and, if I can repeat it once more, realism.

As a last “buy this book” encouragement, while I normally greet excessive backmatter as a plus / minus (“Cool, bonus stuff!” / “Ugh, more stuff to read?”), each issue boasts 4 pages of relative non-fiction text, and, coming from total history hater, its sincerely all interesting, and written with a good balance that reads neither dumbed down or too detailed.

Had enough?  My four stars is a little unfair, as what this book gets right is the overwhelmingly important stuff.  In my latter-era criticisms of Garth Ennis, Johnny Red gives me the encouragement to say / see that he just needed the right motivations to deliver on his much-proven potentials.  I hope Titan and Garth give us a followup to this book.