{"id":36896,"date":"2026-11-08T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T09:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36896"},"modified":"2026-11-07T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T18:12:47","slug":"white-death-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/11\/08\/white-death-2\/","title":{"rendered":"White Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Robbie Morrison & Charlie Adlard <\/b>(Image Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-632151-42-1 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

More than a century after the conflict ended, the First World War still has a terrifying grip on public consciousness and remains culturally relevant.<\/p>\n

For years I\u2019ve been championing Charley\u2019s War<\/a>;<\/b> the best story about the Great War ever created, but while I remain convinced of that fact, there are so many (and yet paradoxically still never enough) strong contenders for the title and it\u2019s always worth seeking out fresh viewpoints and visualisations. This particular moody masterpiece originally emerged as kind of transcontinental self-published venture by writer Robbie Morrison (Nikolai Dante<\/b>; Judge Dredd<\/b>; Doctor Who<\/b>; Batman<\/b>) and ace illustrator Charlie Adlard (Judge Dredd<\/b>; X Files<\/b>; Astronauts in Trouble<\/b>; Batman<\/b>; The Walking Dead<\/b>). They initially crafted the international bestseller under the guise of Les Cartoonistes Dangereux <\/i>in another century – specifically way back in 1998.<\/p>\n

It was subsequently rereleased in 2002 by AiT\/Planet Lar before becoming a luxurious hardback and digital tome in 2014 under the aegis of Image Comics. It remains a stunning and moving saga of a largely overlooked theatre of that conflict. This edition also offers commentary; biographies; a short vignette created as a prelude to the main story and used as a promotional device in French comics magazine Bo<\/i> Dois<\/i><\/b>, plus a feature detailing the process from original script to finished art. This last is a particularly fascinating inclusion as illustrator Adlard devised a whole new way of delivering comics narrative for the story…<\/p>\n

The tale itself is simple and straightforward: based on truly horrific events during what was known as \u201cthe White War\u201d and is fully contextualised in Morrison\u2019s introductory notes.
\nIt\u2019s 1916 and on the Italian Front, the war against the forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (allied with Germany) is as stalled, tedious and horrifically murderous as the trench warfare in France and Belgium, even though it\u2019s being fought across the Alighieri plateau in the mountains of Trentino.
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\nAdded to the generally accepted litany of horrors generated by the conflict are paralyzing cold, constant mist, fog and snow and the extreme likelihood of being crushed, broken and smothered once the bright sparks shelling each other realise they can also trigger avalanches just by aiming a little bit higher…<\/p>\n

Into this mess trudges new recruit Pietro<\/i> Aquasanta<\/i>. He grew up in these mountains, but sees little to engender fond feelings or happy memories. Firstly, even his status and intentions are suspect since he used to soldier for the other side, thanks to the Austro-Hungarian Empire\u2019s conscription policies and the Allies\u2019 habit of taking absolutely anybody – even enemy combatants – who can hold and point a gun.
\n\"\"
\nSecondly, even though he\u2019s now an Italian fighting for his own homeland, most of Aquasanta\u2019s comrades are fools, the generals are callous idiots and his immediate superior – sergeant major Orsini<\/i> – is a fanatical war-loving bastard who will do anything to keep the killing going. Still and all, even solitary outsiders like Pietro can\u2019t help seeking companionship when life is so visibly brief and death looms over everything like a million-ton white shroud…<\/p>\n

And as the campaign progresses the turncoat advances simply by not dying…
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\nLeavened through mordant trench humour (I guess the clue is in the name), peppered with painfully human moments of tragedy or unwavering friendship and capturing the numbing horror of ceaseless struggle against the elements, environment, other humans and one\u2019s own self-destructive demons, White Death<\/b> is a compelling comics classic to be savoured and shared.
\n\u00a9 2014 Robbie Morrison & Charlie Adlard. All rights reserved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robbie Morrison & Charlie Adlard (Image Comics) ISBN: 978-1-632151-42-1 (HB\/Digital edition) More than a century after the conflict ended, the First World War still has a terrifying grip on public consciousness and remains culturally relevant. For years I\u2019ve been championing Charley\u2019s War; the best story about the Great War ever created, but while I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “White Death”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42,239,122,105,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-british","category-drama","category-historical","category-mature-reading","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9B6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36901,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36896\/revisions\/36901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}