Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy #1

January 24, 2006

Quick Rating: Great
Title: The Prophecy Part One

DC’s greatest soldier returns!

Writer: Joe Kubert
Art: Joe Kubert
Colors: Joe Kubert and Pete Carlson
Editor: Will Dennis
Cover Art: Joe Kubert (Cover A), Adam Kubert (Cover B), Andy Kubert (Cover C)
Publisher: DC Comics

Joe Kubert is back, and doing what he does best – World War II-era action with Sgt. Rock. Arguably the greatest of all DC’s war comic stars, this is a character Kubert has been associated with for many years, and I’m very excited to see both of them back.

As the story starts, Rock and the men of Easy Company are parachuting into a tiny Lithuanian town to meet up with a local contact with a very important package that’s being sought by both the Germans to the west and the Russians to the east – and it’s too valuable to fall into any of their hands. Rock and the boys don’t know exactly what it is they’re going in to retrieve, but that doesn’t matter – they’re soldiers, they have their orders and they’re going to carry them out.

I’d be lying if I said this was a remarkably original storyline – soldiers running behind enemy lines to get a mysterious item has been done many times before, and unless there’s more to the package than the last-page revelation, that’s how it’ll remain. But the book is still written and drawn extremely well, in Kubert’s own classic style, which is still one of the best in comics. It’s always great to see one of the legends doing new work, and I’m very excited about this.

I also have to say, this is one of the few times I actually approve of variant covers. Since both Kubert and both of his sons are working at DC at the moment, it seems perfectly natural to have the Kubert brothers covering their Dad’s work – all three of the covers look very good, and I really can’t decide which is my favorite.

DC is branching back and picking up a lot of their older properties again – Jonah Hex, this… heck, even Captain Carrot made a reappearance in Teen Titans lately. As long as the quality keeps up, I’ll keep reading.

Rating: 9/10