By Pierre Veys & Carlos Puerta, translated by Mark Bence (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-203-4
There have been some astounding comic strips stories about the Great War. Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun’s Charley’s War still tops the list for me – with Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches! and Goddamn This War! – closely following on, but the centennial conflict has generated plenty more thought-provoking sagas for us all to savour.
One particularly beautiful and strangely intriguing fictionalised fantasy – which began as Baron rouge: Le Bal des Mitrailleuses in 2012 – takes a fascinating step into the bizarre with a loosely inspired tale in faux-autobiographic mien described by air ace and military legend Manfred Von Richthofen.
Scripted with great style and Spartan simplicity by prolific bande dessinée writer Pierre Veys (Achille Talon, Adamson, Baker Street, Boule et Bill, les Chevaliers du Fiel), the drama is stunningly illustrated by advertising artist and veteran comics painter Carlos Puerta (Los Archivos de Hazel Loch, Aeróstatas, Tierra de Nadie, Eustaquio, Les Contes de la Perdition) in a staggeringly potent photo-realistic style.
The action begins with ‘Chivalry’ as the infamous Red Baron pursues his latest target through the lavish countryside and historical landmarks of the Front. Driving the British Spad to the fields below, the handsome Hun is in time to see the light fade from his foe’s eyes forever.
The sight gives him ineffable pleasure…
As he returns to the skies Von Richthofen’s mind drifts back a decade to his time in Berlin’s Military Academy and how his expertise in the gymnasium made him a target of the rich Junker scions who clustered around spoiled, vicious Prince Friedrich. Already despised, the proud and cocky young man embarrassed the Prince and walked into the changing rooms expecting a beating…
Then, for the first time, his “power†manifested. Able to somehow read the minds of his attackers, Manfred viciously trounced them all and provoked a fear in his would-be tormentors that carried him safely to graduation…
Talking the strange event over with his pal Willy, Von Richthofen deduced it was the taste of actual danger which triggered his gift and tested the theory by heading for the worst part of town to provoke the peasants and rabble.
He never questioned how or why the savage exercise of brutal violence made him feel indescribably happy…
When the war began, former cavalry officer Manfred had further proof of his talent when he casually acted on a vague impulse and avoided a lethal shelling from a threat he could neither see nor anticipate…
Soon after, he joined the Fliegertruppen (Imperial German Flying Corps) as gunner in a two-man reconnaissance craft and learned that to the men in the trenches below, one nation’s planes were as dangerous as the other’s… and they all needed to be shot at…
Thanks to a whirling propeller, he also painfully realised that he was not beyond harm: a fact that was reiterated when he and pilot Georg were suddenly attacked by a French aircraft and he found himself in his first dogfight over the scenic Belgian landscape…
A shocking blend of staggering beauty and phenomenally visceral violence, The Machine Gunner’s Ball is a strange brew of classic war story and eerie horror yarn. The concept of the semi-mythical knight of the clouds as a psychic psycho-killer is not one that many purists will be happy with, but the conceit is executed with superb conviction and the illustration is both potently authentic and gloriously lovely.
A decidedly different combat concoction and one jaded war lovers should definitely try
Original edition © Zephyr Editions 2012 by Veys & Puerta. All rights reserved. English translation 2014 © Cinebook Ltd.