As a literate and well-rounded reader of comics, I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of a What if...? story. Writers at the big two publishers have used this concept for years (Even if DC calls them Elseworlds.) to really mess up their characters without actually destroying a popular franchise. These stories look at a character's life and ask what would be different if some pivotal moment changed. What if Bruce Wayne's parents had lived? What if J. Jonah Jameson thought Spider-Man was great? What if Hulk ate all the pies? (Or was that one of those Hostess ads?)
The big idea is that one small change, one piece of chance, one bad decision, can totally change a person's life. In some cases, one small thing can change the whole world. In Wildstorm's Storming Paradise, by Chuck Dixon and Butch Guice, the What If? trick is applied to the real world. What if the guys working on the U.S.'s atom bomb project during WWII screwed up and blew themselves to smithereens? In this case, one small change is going to affect a whole lot of people.
Without the bomb, the war plan of the U.S. changes radically. A full-fledged invasion of Japan becomes the order of the day, and Storming Paradise takes reader's along for that rough ride. This book treats its alternate history very seriously. It is clear that Dixon knows his stuff, or did some serious research, or maybe both. As someone with only a passing knowledge of WWII (Pay attention in school kids!), I wasn't always sure which bits reflected real history and which were subtle changes. Everything in this book feels very plausible, like history could easily have gone this way.
Dixon's story is told from almost every possible point of view. From the President, to the Generals, to the troops on the ground, to war correspondents, to the Japanese forces and civilians, and even to John Wayne, readers will see how everyone is affected, how all these lives are changed by a mistake made by one important group of men. Guice's art is perfect for this book. It is detailed and realistic, and as carefully researched as the script. Historical likenesses, uniforms, and military equipment, all seem very accurate, at least to my untrained eye. This comic has the feel of something you could see on the History Channel, and I mean that in a good way! (The "Buy War Bonds" propaganda poster styled cover is a neat touch, too.)
If you like history, what if ..? tales, or just stories that are told with epic scope and scale, you don't want to miss Storming Paradise. Hey, it's guaranteed this week at Four Color Fantasies, so you have nothing to lose. Besides, what if you don't read this book? The chain of possible consequences is not something you want to risk. When we're all living in a country that has been invaded by Belgium, then you'll be sorry.
No comments:
Post a Comment