4 out of 5

It’s a little uneven in its attempts to make its point, but ‘The Reivers’ is nonetheless another rather haunting entry in Ennis’ War Story line, massively assisted by Cam Kennedy’s expressive art which treads the right line between nigh-comical distortion of characteristics and an oddly stoic formalism.  Indicative, perhaps, of a shit in Garth’s writing style, the title of this entry is sort of an aside to the story proper, although a fitting summation of the tale… and puzzling as to whether we’re supposed to look at it positively or negatively or both.  While we’re deep in the ‘know your war’ territory here, with Garth assuming we’re on board with who’s fighting who and where and why and let’s sing another ‘classic’ WWII song that doesn’t really make sense, since he quickly redirects the narrative to focus on the characters, the only thing we end up needing to know is that these men are S.A.S. and they’re seen as pretty badass.  Our story starts at the tail end of another successful campaign, with our troupe fully in control.  They return to Cairo for a brief respite and the leader and his senior officer (I think) have a late night chat about the reasons they’re here to fight.  The senior officer, the perhaps more reserved of the two, has a bit of ‘if someone’s gotta’ do it…’ mentality and voices Garth’s repeated dislike for the pointless slaughter that comes with war (slaughter for politics, for numbers, or from planning from people who shouldn’t be planning).  His leader chuckles and says he would’ve liked fighting side-by-side with his ancestors – The Rievers – who violently tore across the lands ages ago, born to fight.  And perhaps we’re all born with this need to fight, and perhaps that’s why we’re here, in the S.A.S.

The concept disgusts the senior officer, that anyone would desire this life.

And as any good story is ought to tie its themes together, events align such that our principles’ difference in opinion on this approach to war is fleshed out on the battlefield, the senior officer dutifully following orders even though he disagrees with the drive behind their issuance.

As mentioned, it takes a while to get here.  It’s not Ennis banter that fills up the pages, but rather Garth making sure we understand the symbol of The Rievers, and how, exactly, the perception of such characters could differ so greatly between two men with seemingly similar goals.  And any other way he would’ve layered it might’ve been rushed before or after, so although I mention the ramp-up as a criticism, it’s really the only option (given the 50ish page limit) for making the conclusion effective.  …Which is where the second curiosity comes from, though.  Garth has, at points, masterfully provided plot revelations that have no easy side to take.  But he normally shows that “right or wrong” mentality through a character pondering the same, or someone over-obviously swinging one way or the other.  But the last moments of Rievers – not unexpected, really, but still done with a painfully good sense of pacing and space – the last moments are really unclear as to how they should be interpreted, to the extent that it makes you wonder if you’d missed something somewhere clarifying the point.  And depending on what you think the result is, also possibly cheapening what you’ve read leading up to it.

But still – an amazing book – story and art – considering how heavy the background is, with enough historical relevance for war comic fans and enough of the ol’ moral juxtapositions for Ennis fans.