4 out of 5

Somewhere on the continuum of Mills exists a writer whose pages keep me absolutely engrossed.  War comics are absolutely not my bag, but Wagner’s Walk – about a trio of German Russian-encamped P.O.W.’s post-WW II who decide to escape and make the 2,000 mile trek to India – was ridiculously thrilling stuff, only occasionally vainglorious with its characterization of our lead escapee, Kurt Wagner, but otherwise a very Mills-y (i.e. ballsy) subversion of concepts by casting ex-Nazis as the stars.  The hitch, of course, is that these men were soldiers by dint of nationality and not in support of their fuhrer’s politics, but nonetheless, Mills (writing as R.E. Wright) doesn’t take ridiculous steps to justify anything, rather just letting the story and their actions humanize his characters.  Again, things are occasionally a bit starry eyed – “we won’t kill for anything / the war is over” and etc., but it all works in the heat of the moment to make their trials and tribulations in their long escape – dogged by Russians the whole while – all the more dare-defying.  Chapter after chapter, reprinted from Tornado, Mills comes up with great ways of keeping the stakes high and (in context) believable, steadily illustrated by Lozano and Mike White.

A star gets docked for two reasons, specific to the reprint: a chapter was omitted, and though I’m sure there was a reason, it leaves a significant gap in the story – like Wagner blows up in one strip and then he’s alive in the next.  Also, despite that gap, there still apparently wasn’t enough room to include the last chapter of the story.  Given that Wagner apparently dies, that’s sort of sucky to leave out, akin to Walking Dead’s maligned 7th season death-craptacular cliffhanger.