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murphyc1's review against another edition
3.0
Lush, vivid art makes up for an odd plot and stiff narration. Wonder how the story ends...
rosseroo's review
3.0
This slim 48 page book is the first in a trilogy based on the real-life World War I aviation ace Manfred von Richtofen (aka the Red Baron). It opens with a quiet and graceful duel between him and an English pilot, culminating in a kill, at which he declares his "delight" in watching the enemy die. Then, the middle third is a flashback to 10 years previously, when he was a schoolboy in Berlin. He faces bullying by a Prince Freidrich (presumably Prince Freidrich Karl, who would also become a WWI pilot in real life), and discovers he has some kind of premonition superpower when faced with a threat, which allows him to bet his foes in combat. He tests this by heading to a rough part of town and luring a group of toughs into a fight, in which he appears to kill at least two of them with little compunction. The final third skips forward to his transition from cavalry service to the air corps in 1916, and an early flight as a gunner in a thrilling 14-page duel with a French plane.
On the whole, the choice to depict him as a sociopath with a superpower seems a very strange one. The artwork is unlike any graphic novel I've seen -- the paintings are almost expressionistic at times, with a kind of soft focus to them. But panels depicting streets and architecture are incredibly finely detailed and look an awful lot like colored photos with a basic Photoshop filter applied. There's an "uncanny valley" aspect to them that I found very distracting, especially when contrasted with the other style. The best scenes are definitely those of the aerial duels, which summon the grace, power, and fragility of the machines.
Definitely worth checking out by aficionados of graphic novels with a historic or wartime subject. I'll be picking up the next one to see how the sociopathy thread develops.
On the whole, the choice to depict him as a sociopath with a superpower seems a very strange one. The artwork is unlike any graphic novel I've seen -- the paintings are almost expressionistic at times, with a kind of soft focus to them. But panels depicting streets and architecture are incredibly finely detailed and look an awful lot like colored photos with a basic Photoshop filter applied. There's an "uncanny valley" aspect to them that I found very distracting, especially when contrasted with the other style. The best scenes are definitely those of the aerial duels, which summon the grace, power, and fragility of the machines.
Definitely worth checking out by aficionados of graphic novels with a historic or wartime subject. I'll be picking up the next one to see how the sociopathy thread develops.
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