Comic Review: Lost Soldiers #3

Lost Soldiers #3

Image Comics

Writer: Ales Kot

Artists: Luca Casalanguida & Heather Moore

“Lost Soldiers” hasn’t been afraid of showing blood and guts. The opening of the debut issue and the Vietnam flashbacks had plenty of violence. Now though? At the climax of the last issue, Kowalski spotted Burke during the Juarez deal and opened fire. He and Burke had issues dating back to the Vietnam war and naturally, it’s now time for a shootout. I’ll go into it throughout the review but I’ll warn you, this is a graphic comic. There are moments of violence throughout this issue that certainly aren’t for the squeamish.

One thing that you’ll notice right away about this comic is that it lacks sound. Well, in the first half anyway. There are narration boxes throughout the shootout and subsequent chase but no speech and no onomatopoeia. That isn’t a bad thing though. The lack of sound helps draw attention to the action occurring throughout the book. It also draws attention to the narration boxes which I believe are meant to be death itself speaking. Another little effect of this narrative technique is the effect when you do start getting dialogue. It hits you like a ton of bricks. What comes after that? I won’t spoil it but Kot writes a tragic story with Kowalski and Hawkins. I was shocked at the empathy I felt for Kowalski and I feel sorry for Hawkins after reading this issue. The writing here was brilliant.

The artwork is another fine factor in this issue. The very first panel features an overhead of the gunfight. So many bullets are flying between the sides that the bullets cast shadows across the room. Right away this sets the tone for the entire issue. I’d spoken in previous reviews about how the artists on this series used orange and red during scenes of violence, that happens here and it is glorious. Casalanguida and Moore do an amazing job of emphasizing these scenes of violence and how horrific they are. Their chase scene is fantastic. Minimal detail is used in the backgrounds to maintain the idea of speed and keep the focus on the cars. It’s all about realism in this book. Even the later scenes that I won’t spoil, I was amazed at them. This series has some of the best art I’ve seen in a comic this year.

I can’t say much about lettering. Naturally, in a story told in this fashion, there isn’t much lettering to talk about. What’s there is solid though. The narration boxes and speech bubbles towards the end are simple and don’t distract from the action in each panel. There are brief moments where bold lettering is used to grab the reader during dialogue but it’s rare.

When I read the first issue of this series I thought it’d be dealing more with PTSD from multiple perspectives. I’d honestly have preferred that but this issue presses the idea that we’ll mainly see it from Kowalski’s point-of-view. I’m surprisingly okay with that. The character gives me a Clint Eastwood vibe and this actually reads like the kind of movie he’d star in. Seeing how the trauma of war has affected this man is simply sad. I’d have liked to have seen more from the perspectives of Hawkins and Burke. I don’t think that’ll happen based on this issue. Kowalski’s tale is definitely strong enough to carry the rest of the series though. I recommend this and I’ll be shocked if “Lost Soldiers” doesn’t win awards based on the quality of this work.

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