I always like to give new story lines a chance. I pick up something I have never read about and try to find interest. I decided this week it was going to be Fever Ridge. This miniseries takes us to New Guinea and explores what soldiers were going through when fighting for the Pacific in World War II. My mother started labor with me while watching Mash. Since then I have had a soft spot for military. I couldn’t imagine what war was like for these soldiers. Today, we see all sorts of countries on the TV and even parallel universes. Then these kids probably had minimal ideas of what this vast island looked like. Plus, with new areas brings new diseases, animals, people, customs, and so much more. I still get freaked out thinking about visiting some countries and what animals I should look out for. On top of all this chaos let’s add a war. Okay cool, sounds good.
Let me say that just because you hear the word war doesn’t mean I need to be entertained with blood and guts through the experience. What it means is that I want a good story with some tasteful action. The occasional fist pump doesn’t hurt either. This comic is so slow. The dialogue is never ending. It is nonstop talking. The point of action in war requires strategy and lots of opinions about these strategies, but come on man. I can’t flip page throughout pages seeing a man standing there talking about taking action and never seeing action. It is a tad dull.
Franz has just been handed commanding officer of his division. Franz and the other guys talk about the strengths of each member while discussing their tasks at hand. It is cool how the comic sets it up when talking about the members. It looks like baseball cards with a short bio at the bottom. The men are all worried about Ritter because they have noticed that he hasn’t opened any of his mail. Franz reassures them that Ritter is completely sane and he should be fine if they just give him time. The mission at hand is to gauge the attack the army is about to have to gain the Philippines. They want to know how the Japanese are doing with such things like supplies and illnesses. The end of the issue flashes back 5 days. The boys are investigating some village close by and see that the villagers have mutilated Japanese soldiers. The soldiers sense the villagers nearby and we can see that they are creeping up on them.
Our writer, Mike Heimos, and artist, Nick Runge, bring a truthful insight into the Pacific war. When we think of World War II we tend to think about Germany and the movies surrounding this area or you think of Ben Affleck marrying his best friend’s knocked-up girlfriend. Either way we don’t jump on the difficulties of these soldiers in a new area fighting far from home and the main war zone. All and all I am not disappointed that I gave this comic a shot but I don’t think I will be going back to the miniseries. It was all just too drawn out.
Score: 2/5
Writer: Michael Heimos
Artist: Nick Runge
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 5/8/13