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nightxade's review
4.0
I happened upon the obituary of Nadezhda Popova and learned of the existence of the Night Witches. Thereafter, I discovered that Garth Ennis had written a series of war stories called [b:Battlefields|6746261|Battlefields|Garth Ennis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347419364s/6746261.jpg|6942684], with the Night Witches appearing in the first volume. Sometimes, it’s hard to reconcile the writer responsible for such atrocities as Crossed (DO NOT CLICK if you value your sanity. Definitely NSFW), but other than the violence and depravity of war, Ennis’ stories in Battlefields are quite tame and well written in comparison. And they serve the all important purpose of telling us a little bit about the oft times unsung heroes of war.
The most interesting aspect of this comic is that while Ennis is focusing on the women, he parallels it by following a troop of German soldiers during the Russian invasion. Inevitably, the two groups meet, with unexpected results. Otherwise, the comic doesn’t go into a lot of detail and really doesn’t give you too much depth on the subject, even watering things down a bit with a superficial love story. A Wikipedia entry would serve better to detail their lives. Still, I went from not knowing anything about these brave Russian women, to discovering that Dynamite Comics had at least recognized their worth enough to let them figure prominently in this war series.
www.BiblioSanctum.com
The most interesting aspect of this comic is that while Ennis is focusing on the women, he parallels it by following a troop of German soldiers during the Russian invasion. Inevitably, the two groups meet, with unexpected results. Otherwise, the comic doesn’t go into a lot of detail and really doesn’t give you too much depth on the subject, even watering things down a bit with a superficial love story. A Wikipedia entry would serve better to detail their lives. Still, I went from not knowing anything about these brave Russian women, to discovering that Dynamite Comics had at least recognized their worth enough to let them figure prominently in this war series.
www.BiblioSanctum.com
kastrel's review
5.0
Phew, that was brutal. Garth Ennis and Russ Braun do an amazing job of conveying the horror and grim violence of WWII Russia, and the story of the fictionalised 588th women's night bomber regiment, known as the Night Witches (Nachthexen) for the whooshing noise their planes made overhead (they cut the engines to get close enough without being shot down) just before they dropped their bombs.
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