How dare the creative team make us wait for more Peter Panzerfaust, am I right? Actually I think they can take as much time as they want if it means producing issues like this one. This series is very underrated in my opinion, but I’ll continue to sing its high praises until it deserves otherwise (doubtful that day will come). I was a bit surprised to see that this was the end of Tiger Lilly’s story, but upon reading the issue it makes perfect sense and naturally closes out the arc.
The issue kicks off with a shootout with Peter instructing soldiers with his strategy. The flip side is that we also see the German commander talking to his men and it’s quite different. Where Peter is calm and has a clear plan of attack, the German’s are frantic and just trying to survive when they should be dominating.
Eventually Peter, Tiger Lilly and Julian make the final push to find one of the Hunter’s responsible for Lilly’s father’s death. The scene of her taking her revenge is absolutely fantastic. It captures how cold blooded war is, but it was presented as something out of a Tarantino film. It is seriously one of the coolest scenes in the entirety of the series. Because it’s the end of the arc I don’t want to say anything else about the story because there would be spoilers a-go-go.
Kurtis Wiebe is writing masterfully on this series. He captures the tone of the war with all the death and destruction, but then also the psychological damage that it did to the people that fought the war as well. Even more he builds friendships and bonds between his characters that are so deep and believable that you’ll feel the pains of two brothers in arm saying good bye to each other. He balances this with fantastic moments that are very Peter Pan-ish and so while the story is grounded in reality it still feels magical. The cliché is to say that this story is an emotional rollercoaster, but really it’s capturing the most intense emotions of life, good or bad, and making you experience them all in one reading.
The artwork continues to grow with each issue. If you look at Tyler Jenkins work on the first story arc to where he is now, you’ll see exactly what I mean. The world is lush and alive, but more importantly it looks like a war is going on; even when it’s calm. The action pops when it needs to, it’s dramatic when it’s called for and overall it’s just beautiful to look at.
Along with the art is the coloring which has added so much to this series as of late. The coloring is like looking through old photos at times and it greatly helps with the presentation of the era. Kelly Fitzpatrick compliments Jenkins art wonderfully.
If I’m not mistaken we’re approaching the home stretch on this series. It’s not meant to go on forever and that’s another of its charms. That said if you’re just now checking it out then you’re a bit late. Here’s the thing though when people ask me about this title and if it’s worth catching up on my answer is always yes. Absolutely yes. In fact I would be envious of anyone that had the joy of reading twenty issues straight of this series because that would be a hell of a read.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Kurtis Wiebe Artist: Tyler Jenkins Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick Publisher: Image/Shadowline Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 8/20/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital