The Lion & the Eagle

[JohnW]

Collected edition landed on the mat the other day. Larger format than expected. Not complaining.

Garth Ennis tells another war story. This, in essence, is an adaptation of John Masters, The Road Past Mandalay, and as is so often the case with anything that deviates from well-loved source material, there is much that I just plain don't like. In short, it comes across as derivative, but then if you've never read the book that will hardly be a problem.
Then there are the standard Ennisisms — like period pastiche that doesn't quite convince and jokes that don't quite land. To be fair, the flaws stand out only because everything else works, but to the nitpicker there are a few things that are just the smallest bit off.

But then there are those moments that are spot on.

I won't spoil anything, but there are a few frames that — to paraphrase the late Terry Pratchett — reach down into a man and pull him to his feet by his testicles.
There's much about Garth Ennis that pisses me off, but I'll keep reading anyway because there's no one around these days who's doing this stuff better.
His war stories have heart.
I don't always care for the head and the guts, but the heart in them manages to get me every time.

And the artwork? PJ Holden does PJ Holden, and he does not slack off.

I learnt how to draw those bloody hats, so I'm doing more of it, dammit.

PJ, if you're reading this, the hats look A-OK.
And that scene in the Sikh village? Under the tree? – Only lovely.

[Barrington Boots]

This was an absolute nightmare to get the individual issues of and I had to give up, happy to hear the collected edition is available.

His war stories have heart.

This is spot on!
I also find a lot of his Ennis-isms to be annoying at times, but (in his war stuff, certainly) there's always a bit like this that just grabs you and makes you feel the story.

The Road Past Mandalay is a very moving read.