War Bears #1
Written by Margaret Atwood & Ken Steacy
Art by Ken Steacy
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
As a Canadian I was pretty excited to see a comic being written by Margaret Atwood, one of this country’s most successful living writers with books such as The Handmaid’s Tale, the inspiration for the dark TV series of a world after a few more years of Donald Trump. All right that might not have been Atwood’s inspiration but it does seem at least more than a tad like a foretelling of things to come. But, I digress.
In War Bears, after a single issue of what appears to be a planned three-issue miniseries, I’m not quite sure what Atwood is attempting with this story.
It is written from the perspective of a comic book creator in Canada in the war years. He creates a super heroine to fight the Axis horde in the pages of a comic as part of a patriotic effort that was prevalent at the time in comics. In that regard there is some historic relevance to the story, including an interesting scene where the young creator argues with the company boss over who owned the new character, him as the creator, or the company because he was working for them. It was an interesting theme in the sense it is a discussion that may well have played out repeatedly in those days.
But, the overall story seems a bit thin.
On the plus side Ken Steacy’s art echoes the earlier era nicely.
I’ll definitely being following this one as a Canadian, but it isn’t one warranting a high recommendation at this point.
About Author
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
Calvin’s Commentaries: War Bears #1
Written by Margaret Atwood & Ken Steacy
Art by Ken Steacy
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
As a Canadian I was pretty excited to see a comic being written by Margaret Atwood, one of this country’s most successful living writers with books such as The Handmaid’s Tale, the inspiration for the dark TV series of a world after a few more years of Donald Trump. All right that might not have been Atwood’s inspiration but it does seem at least more than a tad like a foretelling of things to come. But, I digress.
In War Bears, after a single issue of what appears to be a planned three-issue miniseries, I’m not quite sure what Atwood is attempting with this story.
It is written from the perspective of a comic book creator in Canada in the war years. He creates a super heroine to fight the Axis horde in the pages of a comic as part of a patriotic effort that was prevalent at the time in comics. In that regard there is some historic relevance to the story, including an interesting scene where the young creator argues with the company boss over who owned the new character, him as the creator, or the company because he was working for them. It was an interesting theme in the sense it is a discussion that may well have played out repeatedly in those days.
But, the overall story seems a bit thin.
On the plus side Ken Steacy’s art echoes the earlier era nicely.
I’ll definitely being following this one as a Canadian, but it isn’t one warranting a high recommendation at this point.
About Author
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
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