Battlefields (comics)
Battlefields is a comic book metaseries written by Garth Ennis, comprising several mini-series, each illustrated by a different artist and published by Dynamite Entertainment.[1]
| Battlefields | |
|---|---|
 Cover of The Complete Battlefields Volume 1 | |
| Created by | Garth Ennis |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dynamite Entertainment |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a set of limited series. |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | November 2008 – present |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Garth Ennis |
| Artist(s) | various |
| Colorist(s) | Tony Avina Rob Steen |
| Reprints | |
| Collected editions | |
| The Complete Battlefields Volume 1 | ISBN 1-60690-079-X |
| Night Witches | ISBN 1606900285 |
| Dear Billy | ISBN 1606900757 |
| Tankies | ISBN 1606900579 |
Publication history
The series was announced at the 2008 Philadelphia Wizardworld.[2][3]
The series is divided into self-contained mini-series of three issues, all of which are set during World War II. The first volume in turn consisted of three mini-series. The first mini-series, with artist Russell Braun, titled The Night Witches is set on the Eastern front and concerns a women-only Soviet bomber regiment.[1][4] The second series, with artist Peter Snejbjerg, titled Dear Billy concerns a British nurse, who had survived rape and attempted execution by Japanese soldiers in Singapore, and her relationship with a decorated flying ace.[5][6] The third series was Tankies with artist Carlos Ezquerra. It concerns an inexperienced British tank crew of Londoners in a Churchill Tank led by a Geordie veteran sergeant as they attempt to catch up with their company, enduring attacks by Nazi Tiger tanks as the Battle of Normandy rages on.[7][8]
Starting in 2010, Ennis began work on the second volume. He used a similar format, with two storylines, The Firefly and His Majesty and Motherland, being sequels to Tankies and Night Witches respectively. The other, Happy Valley, was also the first of these to be published, with art by P. J. Holden.[9][10] Happy Valley deals with a novice pilot assigned to an Australian bomber crew bombing German targets while hoping to stay alive for the three missions remaining until they return home. Firefly follows the same British tank crew as they try to take down a powerful German tank. And in Motherland, the star pilot of the Witches gets transferred into a squadron of fighters defending the Russian front and must learn to once again work well with others.
In August 2012, Dynamite announced the return of the series, with a sequel to "The Tankies" and "The Firefly and His Majesty", titled "The Green Fields Beyond", and set during the Korean War.[11] This micro-series began publication in November 2012.
In February 2013, another series, The Fall and Rise of Anna Kharkova. As the third and final instalment of the storyline that began with Night Witches and Motherland, this volume covers Anna's experiences from her post-war imprisonment in a Siberian labour camp and her exploits as a jet pilot in the Cold War.[12]
Collected editions
The individual series have been collected into individual trade paperbacks and then each run of three has then been collected into a single hardcover volume:
See also
- War Stories, another war comic book series by Ennis
- Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, a WWII war comic book series by Ennis and Ezquerra
Notes
- Garth Ennis Takes to the "Battlefields", Comic Book Resources, August 21, 2008
- WW Philly: Ennis Tells Dynamite Stories of "Battlefields", Comic Book Resources, June 1, 2008
- WW Philly: Garth Ennis Brings War Stories to Dynamite Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, Newsarama, June 1, 2008
- Garth Ennis on Battlefields: Night Witches, Newsarama, August 15, 2008
- Garth Ennis Writes To “Dear Billy”, Comic Book Resources, November 25, 2008
- Ennis & His Editor - Talking Battlefields and War Comics, Newsarama, November 28, 2008
- Garth Ennis on Battlefields: The Tankies, February 20, 2009
- Garth Ennis Talks "Battlefields: The Tankies", February 27, 2009
- Ennis Heads Back to the 'Battlefields', Comic Book Resources, October 26, 2009
- Garth Ennis Returns to the BATTLEFIELDS in HAPPY VALLEY, Newsarama, October 27, 2009
- http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?CAT=DF-Battlefields_Fall_and_Rise_of_Anna_Kharkova
References
- Night Witches at the Grand Comics Database
- Night Witches at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Dear Billy at the Grand Comics Database
- Dear Billy at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Tankies at the Grand Comics Database
- Tankies at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Battlefields vol. 2 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)