Havoc Brigade

In a near future, Europe has been ravaged by a terrifying war. America enters the fray with a brand new form of warfare: The Havoc Brigade. But after the war is won, the commander suddenly goes rogue and stops most of the only people who can stop him. The new graphic novel written by Neal Marshall Stevens and illustrated by John Bosco.

Pros: I'm a sucker for near future war books. Always have and always will. Havoc brigade scratches that itch almost perfectly. First, the story. It carries the reader along and i honestly had no idea what was going to happen next. Some people at the start who seem to be major characters don't always turn out like i thought they would. The two protagonist characters are also well realized. Barnes, a Havoc Brigade operator, always has that "Oh god, why me?" feel to him and it makes him a nicely relatable character. Snyder, the engineer who designed the Havoc Brigade suits, acts like nothing bothers her, but deep down is a sarcastically hilarious woman. Major Jackson, the rogue operator, is probably my favorite character. The story is driven by his actions and learning what makes him do what he does is the biggest reason to pick this book up. The art is also very well done. While it doesnt astonish me like other art, it is very solid and powerful. Studio 407 says that it is a "east-meets-west" kind of company and that definitely shows in the art. I can see the inspiration from both styles and it melds really well.

Cons: The main hook for me was to learn about a near future war, and while the first few pages kind of show that, i never learned what happened. I'm just shown the aftermath and, while the book is still good, it never reeled in that initial hook. It left me a bit dissapointed. I would really look forward to maybe a prequel, telling the story of what led to the drastic action of creating the Havoc Brigade. Also, i had to go back and read what exactly the evil general (Not Major Jackson) wanted. His motivation seemed...Too dastardly to be realistic.

Overall, i found Havoc Brigade to be a very well done book. The interaction between the main three characters was superb and the art was solid. While not exactly the book i was expecting, it was nice to read a good, independent, near future war thriller.