I don’t know what prompted me to actually buying this on Saturday. I was in the store, and I’ve got to say that there was a huge amount of books that were all vying for my attention, but for some reason the fact that this book was nominated for an Eisner really made me sit up and give it a shot; I’m soo glad I did. I tore through this 5 issue mini series like few other books I’ve read in a really long time.

The Other Side is hard to describe without doing it some injustice. It’s not just a ‘war’ story, it’s much more than that. It’s a world view and has something very important to address to everyone who’s interested in current affairs and the actual effect that current events will have on many generations to come. You’d think that being from a war torn country I’d try my best to avoid being reminded of the horrors of war, however this book is different and deserves your attention.

The Other Side is a story set in Vietnam as viewed from both sides of the fence. That is part of the reason why this book appealed to me in the first place. For years now, I’ve watched a plethora of movies that are either set in Vietnam or set around that time, or having something to say about it. Unfortunately I honestly can’t remember when or if I’ve ever been shown the war from the point of view of the Vietnamese. I’m sure there must have been some brilliant movies that I’m not aware of but the ones that come to mind, ‘Good Morning Vietnam’, ‘Platoon’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Forest Gump’ all show the events from an American perspective. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that the other side has not really been greatly discussed as far as I’m concerned, and that is where this story elevates itself above the rest instead of spiralling into a standard ‘war story’.

To be fair it’s not an original trick to show both sides of the coin, so Jason Aaron definitely did his job in grabbing my attention, but he really had to work to keep my interest. In this regard he has definitely taken it to another level. Any time (and I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before) that I actually smile at the end of a comic, I know I’m onto something good. I had a massive smile at the end of issue 1 and in the middle of issue 3, because Jason uses the comic book format to tell a story that could only be told in this format. You couldn’t pull off this sort of thing in a movie, or in a book. There’s something about the whole experience of turning a page to the big reveal. Or the dual internal monologues crisscrossing between the actual protagonists. Aaron used a lot of tricks to great effect which I for one definitely enjoyed.

The other thing that really comes off very well is the realism of the characters. They’ve got distinct voices and the way he’s established this is by making sure you get to know the characters in another context than what they’re going through right now. This is mainly internal thoughts that discuss what they would be doing if they were anywhere but fighting a war that neither really wanted to fight.

The other great thing is the juxtaposition of where these two characters were at the beginning of the story and where they end up. It’s a story where the characters evolve and you can see why they are changing; you can feel the change with them.

Cameron Stewart is the artist on this book with Dean White on colours. I’ve not seen much of Cameron’s work in the past, mainly Catwoman during Ed Brubaker’s run on that title. The thing is he wouldn’t be my first choice for a story such as this and yet him and Dean simply do some of the best artwork I’ve seen on a war related story. There is a quiet subtly to their work which I truly appreciate and you can see that there is a certain love of the craft and the story that they are telling. The characters are distinct and the shots that they utilise really capitalise on the setting of the story. While I originally didn’t like the cover used for the trade paperback, I’ve got to say that it does grow on you, however the series had some absolutely brilliant stark cover images used (specifically the fourth issue, with everyone in red except Dai).

Why do I care about the other side? Simple, because in 20 years time when people will be talking and writing books on the Iraqi war I hope someone does something similar this story and does it as well as this.

I’ve got to say that this book took me over 6 months to get around to reading. This wasn’t because I was excited about reading it, this wasn’t because I had better things to read (as you’ll understand from the review) but it was mainly because the story content hits far too close to home for my liking. I’m Lebanese and therefore have see the effects of war on my country. I know what it’s like to walk through the streets of your capital and see pure destruction all around. Scorched black buildings, bullet holes the smell of burn and the uneasy nature of the whole experience.

What I thought I wouldn’t have to live through twice in my life I did, during the summer of 2006 as my country got levelled once again. That was around the time that DMZ came about, it’s about the fictional second American Civil war and is set in New York City.

DMZ stands for Demiliterized Zone. Unfortunately for me I didn’t need to go to Wikipedia to find this out as Lebanon used to have one. In layman’s terms it’s a buffer zone that keeps two people away from each other. This story is set in the DMZ of the second American Civil war. The story picks up thick in the middle of things with Matty Roth being taken away on his internship to the DMZ to cover a story. Things don’t go according to plan and Matt’s left stranded in the middle of the war zone. In the first issue he tries to get his employers to get him out and is disgusted by the nature of their rescue attempt which effectively sets the stage for him staying in the DMZ and being the only reporter living there.

The book is written by Brian Wood. I actually rate Brian as a creator, he’s got a certain earthiness that I really enjoy and I have stated before just how much I enjoyed Channel Zero, however I’ve got to say that DMZ is so far his greatest achievement to date and there are many reasons for this. For a start he’s actually got the room to play around with the knowledge that he’s got room to allow his ideas to grow. Let the characters breathe and let the story evolve. In most of his other works there does seem to be a little bit of restriction, this can be attributed to several things. One has always been the length of his stories. They seem to be cut short before he’s really had a chance to explore things a little more. Thankfully he’s better honed is craft to be enable him to do this particular story the justice it deserves.

The story starts to slowly explore the city as it is now. What’s changed, what has stayed the same. What are the new rules? I guess you’d definitely get a bigger kick out of this story if you actually knew New York City, or had the deep affection for the place that Brian has that you could appreciate what he was trying to produce. It’s a strange love story of a writer to a city to be honest. Rather than showing it in all it’s beauty Brian’s effectively destroyed it and showed how people tried to preserve it and tried to keep it relevant. Coming from a country where this fictional story is my reality it’s amazing how close he is in hitting those feelings one feels when his city lies in ruins around him, it’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on anyone and yet millions of people know exactly how that feels.

The other significant part of the success of this series in my eyes has a great deal with the artist. Riccardo Burchielli’s is a new name to me, however I’m extremely impressed by his style. It oozes with a certain amount of confidence and it really compliments the style that is being driven here. The stories never waver in their detail and their emotion. While his stuff isn’t Akira in their detail, it’s just him (while Akira had like a whole army drawing that stuff) he does definitely pack a lot of stuff in the pages and it’s both raw and polished at the same time. He gives the story that edgy realism while keeping with the Brian Wood sensibilities as established by the writer’s covers (that has got to be a Vertigo first, where the writer actually is the cover artist).

If you’re still on the fence on this series, and I can understand why you might be considering the subject matter, go to the official Vertigo website and download the first issue, not a bad way to spend 10 or 15 minutes of your time I assure you.

‘300′ is the greatest story Frank Miller has ever been involved with. In fact I’ll go one step forward and say that ‘300′ is the best work Frank Miller has ever produced and will likely ever produce (I’m a natural born optimist and I’d relish reading something that tops ‘300′, however I’m also a realist and this is basically Frank’s Magnum Opus). That’s a bold statement considering who I’m talking about here. The man that reinvented Daredevil and made the character one of the best around, the man who reinvented Batman and made him relevant as a character; the man who gave us all of Sin City to delve into; but I don’t choose any of those as his best work (even though they are golden), I choose this little story about ‘300′ Spartan soldiers. First published as an oversized hardcover 7 years ago, and began serialization 2 years prior to that.

‘300′ is set in 480 BC, ancient Greece and chronicles what is considered by many historians as the single most important battle in the history of humanity. These ideas of democracy and philosophy were looking dangerous for the mighty Persian Empire. These ideas had to be crushed and Xeres the self proclaimed God-King went to demand of Athens and Sparta to yield. Neither did.

In the time of King Leonidas, even the King was not above the law. He still had to take permission to go to battle. He was not granted this. So he decides to go for a ‘walk’, with his personal bodyguards of ‘300′ Spartans and sets off to stop the mighty Persian Empire from conquering all of Greece.

From the very beginning of this graphic novel you know it’s different to just about anything else you’ve ever read. The first 10 pages are just epic scenes of soldiers marching. It’s a massive canvas and Miller is going for atmosphere and the iconic. It’s clear that Miller has done his homework (I know he’s really done his homework as he’s actually been to Greece and visited the Hot Gates). The culture and the ideals of the Spartans is shown sometimes in several spreads and other times in a few lines of dialogue or tiny little panels. However it’s all incredibly memorable, powerful and quotable.

The dialogue in this graphic novel crackles off the page. Each sentence is weighed and just sounds fucking hard. Even though I original read this years ago I can remember panels as clearly as if I’d read them yesterday. It’s like Miller stripped all the unnecessary noise from his dialogue and just gave you enough.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the artwork. This is Frank Miller at his best, but also this is where his wife Lynn really outshines her husband. This story would not have worked as well, wouldn’t have looked anywhere near as good if anyone but Lynn had taken over the reigns for the colours. She uses a watercolour palette for this story that is a perfect compliment to the mood that Miller is trying to achieve. The image below is the cover to the second chapter and is easily one of my all time favourite images, mainly because the colours are so vibrant and so perfectly chosen.

One of the best graphic novels in any language has been made into (IMHO) probably the movie of 2007. I’ve watched that trailer time and time again, picking up panels and dialogue which are stripped directly from the book. It’s an incredible adaptation in the making, I’m glad that the creators have actually been so faithful to the material. Then again there’s a reason for that, the material is one of the best the graphic novel medium has to offer.

For more information and a preview go here.