3 out of 5

J is for Jenny sort of treads the line of all the Garth War Storys – it goes for the group dynamic, it goes for the internal monologue, it goes for the anti-authority bent, for the camaraderie, for the last minute emotional reveal… and due to that, it ends up being one of the least effective of the batch.

Most of the WS’s reveal the reason for their title over the course of the story.  While there is some resonance when considering the opening panel’s display of some text on the side of our main character’s ride – the J is for Jenny titular craft – the plane (or what it may represent) doesn’t feel quite like the central theme here, which, to me, is Garth’s ever-preferred exploration of the dehumanizing aspects of war.  Two pilots duke it out over the lead’s radio chatter during missions, joking about burning up little girls and boys, while his co-pilot voices his concerns during briefings and breaks – that we’re all people, German or American, and war is a necessary evil and dot dot dot.  Cue some back-and-forth, some meaningful exchanges, an ironic ending.  I don’t mean to be flippant.  The characters are well written, ‘J’ just feels very generalized.  We seem to be focusing on these primary characters and we do, but Garth inserts one page interior monologues from each person in the plane, attempting to illustrate (I’m supposing) the different ways the war affects people.  Initially these are appropriately spaced and seemed timed effectively to story beats, but he runs out of room toward the tale’s end and it becomes a little cramped.  And since this isn’t a group tale, truly, the structure distracts from the tension of the two pilots, though I understand it helps to give a face to the other people in the ship.

Again, like the title, these things do make sense peripherally, they just don’t feel united effectively.  Combine this with Lloyd’s rather muted art – it’s gorgeous, heavy shading, well-paced, murky colors – but it’s fairly static and makes it hard to attach personality traits to the characters outside of their dialogue.

Not a bad entry, per sé, just lacking personality.