Let’s start with that title huh? It’s very Metal. I know that by reading the name and looking at the cover you’re probably expecting some crazy ass war story, but that’s actually not the case here. Convoy of Corpses is a look at military life in Afghanistan on one stretch of highway. I’m not here to determine the accuracy of the information having no experience or information on the subject. I don’t necessarily doubt any of the information either, but in general it’s a subject that’s close to home for many American’s so it walks a fine line between biased and realism. The story is pretty simple to sum up. A UN sanction news crew from the BBC has been sent to military base code-named Eagle’s Nest for transport to the city Naw Abad. The news crew is given a warm welcome and basically told that all the other places they’ve been don’t mean shit compared to where they are. They’re walked through several things before they hit the highway which is called “the highway to hell.” They take off and run into every possible “bad” scenario along the way.
The story is very much point “A” to point “B” with nothing else in-between. The news crew is pretty dumb and basically there so that the Captain of the squad can walk them through everything they do and all the dangers the face. They do some things that aren’t very believable and there’s even one scene in which the main news guy is asked to make a decision on bodies which I found to be a little weird. It was there to show him how things are done there, but it was still a bit strange since the they dialogued about it afterwards.
I wouldn’t really say there’s a story outside of that though. It’s a good issue and I wouldn’t say it’s bad by any means, it’s just that there’s more of a moral to the story or really an agenda to get across and it’s that this road is not to be messed with. There’s no character development and the point of story is obvious from the beginning.
I will say that military jargon that’s used is explained with editor notes which I thought was a smart choice. Not only does it educate people, but after being defined they could be freely used again. Otherwise the dialogue is okay. It wasn’t very believable because of all the expositions about different items and the logic behind doing things a certain way. For instance one of the news guys asks why he has to wear their boots after putting on a bullet proof vest. To me it seems like it would have to do with protection which is the gist of what’s told to him. I’d like to believe that someone handling the news of our world would understand that when they’re told to switch boots it’s not a fashion or comfort thing.
The art is a nice match for the story. A lot of the faces were inconsistent, but it’s not always noticeable. The vehicles were consistent and if you’ve ever read comics where they are not… then you know how annoying that can be. It’s like why bother drawing a car if you can’t. We spend a lot of time with the vehicles so it was good that they looked great.
This is a decent story. If military tales aren’t your cup of tea then you’re not going to find anything new within these pages to draw you in. It does give you a look at a somewhat normal day on this highway and the ways in which the U.S. military protects themselves from the dangers waiting for them.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Kelly Bender Artist: Van Choran Self-Published Price: $4.00 – Print, $0.99 - Digital