ENNIS, GARTH & GIBBONS, DAVE – SCREAMING EAGLES in WAR STORIES #1 2004 DC Comics

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ENNIS, GARTH & GIBBONS, DAVE – SCREAMING EAGLES in WAR STORIES #1 2004 DC Comics. A story about men trying to exploit the war for their own selfish ends and not getting away with it. In the closing days of World war two a group of American Airborne soldiers are ordered to capture a German mansion as a luxury item for a high-ranking general’s use. They resent the officers gaining such luxury while they do all the work, but they set off to do the job anyway. On route, they capture a leading German officer who has just crashed his staff-car. They quickly realise that he was trying to use the same mansion for his own ends. He had hoped to unite with other German officers there in order to take a great deal of money from there to Switzerland. When the others failed to arrive, and the allies closed in, he tried to flee. Now he is a prisoner as the men exploit the mansion for themselves. They drink fine wines as if they were just bottles of cheap beer. They smuggle local girls in and make love all over the house and its grounds. The German officer kills himself. The men make the most of their luxury while their colleagues die in every theatre of war. They plan to surrender the house to their General after a few days as arranged, but he arrives early while their orgy is still going on. As he tries to discipline them, they defiantly tell him whether can do with himself, inviting an inevitable court martial. The story captures the sense of hypocrisy and class division in war excellently. Here are men doing what the officers of both sides would do given the chance, and getting into hot water over it, This ibis juxtaposed against images of the men who fought and died in the war with no temptation or opportunity for such behaviour. An odd, but effective war story in comic book format. http://www.dccomics.com/

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