'Dear Billy' gives world of comic books a good name

All you have to know about "Battlefields: Dear Billy" is that it's one of the best comics you will ever read and one of the high points in the legendary career of writer

Garth Ennis

.

Ennis not only manages to tell a fresh, unique World War II tale, but brilliantly focuses more on the characters rather than the bullets, bombs and blood. Ennis is determined to present the collateral damage of war - the emotional and psychological toll it takes on all those who participate in it - rather than a "Saving Private Ryan"-esque epic.

Not that there aren't battle scenes. Indeed, relatively minor encounters rack up body counts greater than those of the United States' worst months of the Iraq War - and man's inhumanity to man is illuminated by events that show Ennis has done his research. It was a different world then, one in which our allies and enemies engaged in acts that make waterboarding seem like a trip to the sauna.

Ennis uses "Dear Billy" to remind everyone of British valor, nobility and "stiff upper lip" - all of which were tested by atrocities committed by a Japanese military juggernaut in these pages.

The depiction of acts of Japanese savagery seems to be Ennis' way of arguing that labeling some of today's interrogation techniques - like sleep deprivation - as torture is farcical in comparison to the acts portrayed here.

"Dear Billy" focuses mainly on the victim of one such act of Japanese barbarism. Carrie Sutton is the only one of a group of nurses to survive being raped, then led out into shallow water and mowed down with machine guns.

Haunted by her ordeal and struggling to keep her sanity, Carrie soon meets Lt. Billy Wedgewood, who she eventually learns is also a survivor.

No longer feeling alone, Carrie falls in love with Billy, and her feelings are reciprocated.

If this was a typical story, the dashing pilot and his devoted nurse would have gotten married, had kids, moved back to England and forgotten about World War II forever.

What makes "Dear Billy" so magnificent and memorable is that it eschews such a simplistic, sappy ending.

We soon discover that while Billy's ordeal has made him more determined to enjoy life and defeat the Japanese, Carrie is terrified by them.

It's a fear that turns to rage. Indeed, the main question to be answered throughout most of the series is what will win out, the love Carrie has in her heart for Billy or the hatred for the Japanese that is tainting her soul.

The answer is shocking, but fitting - the only way this brilliant series could possibly end.

"Battlefields: Dear Billy" gets Comics Guy's highest recommendation. It's one of those comics that shows what the medium is capable of.

"Jonah Hex" is another quality book currently on the stands that features a character engaging in acts that aren't always civilized.

Now, arguably the ugliest character in comics, looks like he will hit the big screen with a movie that seems increasingly likely to do him justice - thanks to some beautiful casting.

As the Hollywood Reporter and others have confirmed, Will Arnett has signed on to play a Union soldier who hires Hex and Michael Shannon has agreed to play Doc Cross Williams, the bizarre ringleader of a brutal gladiator circus event.

Arnett and Shannon join an increasingly star-studded cast, including Josh Brolin as the legendary bounty hunter, John Malkovich as his adversary and Megan Fox as a possible love interest. Jimmy Hayward is directing.

Variety is reporting that Robert Rodriguez has been tapped to re-launch the "Predator" franchise for Fox and that he has already scripted "Predators," the first new solo Predator film since "Predator 2" hit cineplexes in 1990.

Is it too much to hope the story will be more like some of the excellent "Predator" comics released since then and less like the two recent "Aliens vs. Predator" films?

This week's trivia question: Who was the star of the original "Predator" film?

The first reader to answer correctly will receive a prize package from Zenescope that includes a regular copy of "Stingers" No. 1 (the company's new bad-ass bounty hunter comic); "Stingers" No. 1 with a special cover by Mark Sparacio; "Salem's Daughter" No. 0; "Grimm Fairy Tales April Fools" No. 1 and "Grimm Fairy Tales" No. 37.

The next 10 readers to answer correctly will receive a copy of "Stingers" No. 1.

Send answers to Comics Guy's e-mail address, along with your home address. Zenescope will mail comics to the winners. *

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