Guerillas Volume 1

Guerillas #1

by Brahm Revel

Private John Francis Clayton is on his first tour of duty in Vietnam, facing death at every turn in the middle of a war he doesn't understand. Clayton is just trying to stay alive when he encounters an elite platoon of.... simian soldiers ? This squad of chain-smoking chimps is the most dangerous fighting force in the jungle... but whose side are they on?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, War, Animals, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Alternate History

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2010

Reviews

[লোচন · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-pleasing line art. Refreshing.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his introduction to the first volume of Guerillas, Brahm Revel's absurdest Vietnam War story, Jackson Publick (The Venture Brothers co-creator) encapsulates my view on the title: "You don't need the likes of me to tell you to buy a comic book about apes with machine guns. They're APES, for God's sake. With MACHINE GUNS!" For those few who didn't immediately rush out to acquire the book, I'll go on. Reminiscent of Alex Toth, Revel's minimalistic stylings perfectly relate the strange story of Private John Francis Clayton's first tour in 'Nam. After the massacre of his platoon, a group of gun-toting, cigar chomping, military trained chimps befriend the dazed and lost private. But Revel does far more than draw a bunch of apes, he adeptly explores war from the viewpoint of a soldier with all of the accompanying powerlessness and chaos. Complete with an evil scientist, a blood thirsty baboon, covert military squads, and a massive conspiracy... oh hell, does it really matter? It's comic book about APES with MACHINE GUNS!

[Marisa Carpico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading these before starting the 4th volume and I somehow forgot what a phenomenal storyteller Revel is. He has a wonderful habit of juxtaposing words with images to create so much space for the reader to make heir own connections. READ THIS SERIES.

[Britton]

An edited review of this book will come sooner or later, this last one was pretty bad.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even in black and white, the artwork displays the horrors of war effectively. The main character narrates the events, often resorting to self-deprecating humor. Then the apes appear, but the serious tone remains. They are given a simple reason for existing - expendable, even superior alternatives to US soldiers - and the hunt for an escaped bunch begins. The story is left high and dry at the of the volume, so it looks like the series has to be read as a whole. The series is easy to recommend for anyone who enjoys war stories in general.

Vietnam, 1970. John Francis Clayton is one of the newest recruits to join a squad of infantrymen. He is mocked for his lack of experience, so he retreats into himself, remembering the past. He had a regular though friendless childhood, a father obsessed with his glory days from WW2, a mother more and more interested in her faith. He joined the fight more to satisfy his father, than for any cause. Though he remembers his father's words of encouragement, he regrets his choice when his squad is wiped out. Before he can be killed, another squad saves him. But they are... apes?

The apes led by Goliath were created by dr. Kurt Heisler, a geneticist. They have escaped captivity, so Heisler is sent with another human squad and his trusty baboon Adolf to retreive them. He discovers his brother's notes among his slaughtered remains - apparently the human squad responsible for the apes were physically abusive towards them. Goliath likely retaliated against all of them and they all escaped. Adolf is an effective tracker, but they have a ways to go before they catch up.

[Matti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. I can't remember which part is which, so my review concerns the whole series. The basic idea is pretty dumb: The U.S. Army has trained and modified monkeys (apes) to be soldiers and do battle in the Vietnam war. But all of this is told in such a captivating way it just works. The writing and the illustration are top notch.

I love how in many places, the text is telling you a different story (from the past), and the illustrations are telling you what is happening now. The contradiction is radical and very dynamic. For example, the main character is reminiscing his childhood while tiptoeing around in the jungle and watching out for snipers. Or the chimps are engaged in battle while remembering their training. It's great how the different timelines are told on top of each other. It's very clever and makes it all kind of cinematic and the dramatic effect is strong.

Probably the only minus is the nazi scientist with his mock German accent. I mean, he's such a stereotype: his motives for being pure evil are just because his a nazi. Right.

There are many good ideas in the series. Like how the philosophy and psychology of war works, and the strategies. And how training, upbringing and childhood events affect a person or an ape. It's funny how the book can be serious and have big thoughts in such a silly main storyline as this, and pull it off. Of course they still have the action and the crash-boom-bang as well.

If you ever read comics on war and enjoyed them, I would recommend this one.

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Go ahead, and judge a book by its cover...if that image appeals to you and this not surprising quotation from the book "Why can't anything every be easy in this God damned war" resonates, that I think you will like reading this book as I did. The version I read was on almost newspaper material pages, so hopefully there are other copies that will last longer. I'm not one for the comic torrents....but there would be that as well.

I think I read this due to the Venture Bros forward ( a show my teens dug enough to dress up as for Halloween a few years back), no real connection there....if sex bothers you more than violence, than you might prefer this over the VB TV show...which is lighter, more humorous fare of course.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story about squad of uplifted chimpanzees raising hell in the Vietnam War kind of feels like if Oliver Stone had written The Island of Dr. Moreau, or if H.G. Wells had written Platoon. Either way, there's a statement to be made about war and soldiers in here, but it kind of collapses under the weight of its own premise. Cool idea, but maybe it only needed to fill one or two volumes.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviews is for the entire series read in four volumes

Well composed characters and a tight story arc combine with liberally inserted backstory to effectively tell the tale. Altogether though, it is a tale that needed 3 volumes at best, and maybe only two. Frequent multi-page stretches of wordless violence do little to advance the story and devolve into flipping sessions.

[Ender · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bizarre book with military monkeys killing Vietnamese forces in the jungle during the Vietnam War. Where this book is going, I don’t know. That worries me. That said, it felt like a popcorn film you can’t look away from. The characters have depth, the plot carries your interest, and the drawings tell the story well. So…I want to read more about monkeys killing VC in the jungle?

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a solicitation for the upcoming omnibus and thought I’d check out volume 1 that’s been on my read pile for years... Such a great start, I couldn’t put it down before finishing! Not sure I can wait for the omni now...

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think 'planet of the apes' meets Vietnam.

With a dash of the 'apocalypse now' psychological horror tossed in.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent comic.

Here I read one very compelling war story and Brahm did what Grant Morrison couldn`t about animal experiments gone awry.
Guerrillas >>> WE3

[Komuniststar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Svidio mi se strip kako je postavljen, odnos izmeju teksta i slike, kako spaja promišljanje sa radnjom. Crtež je jednostavan i efektan, a akcija bogata kad krene.

[Gannon Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good graphic novel. I mean, the setting isn't anything new obviously, as the Vietnam War is quite widely explored by popular media, but it is the characters and plot that make it interesting. This book is about an American soldier who's entire unit is ambushed and killed by VC. However, before he joins his comrades, a squad of American ape soldiers save him. The rest of the book follows his personal struggles as he follows the apes in order to escape the jungle, all the while being tracked by a German scientist looking for his experiments.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I swear, I do not like graphic novels. This one, I read because...well, because the cover has a chimp in fatigues, with a machine gun, smoking a cigarette. I ask you, how can I not read that?

Anyway. Skittish Private John Francis Clayton moves with his platoon through the jungle in Viet Nam. At night he cringes in his foxhole and writes in his journal about his strained relationship with his father, and the shocking brutality of war, including the brutality of the men in his platoon. During the day, he slogs through swamps and thinks about his strained relationship with his father and the shocking brutality of war, etc, etc. Then, one night, his entire platoon is wiped out by a Viet Cong ambush. Was it Clayton's fault? Did he give away their location by smoking in his foxhole? Possibly. Anyway, the entire platoon is killed, and Clayton is saved by a gang of shotgun wielding, cigar-smoking apes. They're the result of a top-secret government experiment gone bad, and the reader is not at all sure which side they're on.

4 stars. Great artwork, good story. Sole purpose is obviously story set-up for future issues, so you won't find anything new here as far as the Viet Nam war-story goes, until you get to the monkeys. Not for kids. And yes, I will read vol II, if I can find it at the library.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vietnam, 1970. Nuori ja kokematon sotamies Clayton on ensimmäisellä partioretkellään. Sodan raakuus heti iskee heti kättelyssä vasten kasvoja ja veteraani-isänsä odotuksia harteillaan kantavan nuorukaisen mielenterveys joutuu koville eikä hengenlähtökään ole Vietcongin hallitsemassa viidakossa kaukana.

Tämä kaikki on kuitenkin vasta alkua, sillä joukkueensa tuhouduttua Clayton löytää itsensä osastosta, josta inhimillisyys on kirjaimellisesti kaukana. Mistä on kyse ja mitä tekoa saksalaisittain murtavalla tiedemiehellä on tässä kaikessa?

Brahm Revelin "Guerillas vol. 1" (Oni Press, 2010) yhdistelee näppärästi populaarikulttuurin perinteisempää Vietnam-kuvausta ja enemmän tai vähemmän älyvapaata pulp-meininkiä sortumatta kuitenkaan sen enempää parodian kuin tahattoman huumorinkaan puolelle. Ehdottoman suositeltava sarjakuvapläjäys!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name Guerillas holds duel meaning here. The story of this comic takes you into the horror of the guerilla warfare of the Vietnam war. The second strand of the plot revolves around Gorillas - the primates. Ala Island of Doctor Moreau, a troop of Gorillas has been given semi-sentience, training, and machine guns and sent into Vietnam as the U.S. Militaries newest secret weapon. This comic is masterfully composed. Revel makes excellent and innovative use of blacks in the work and uses excellent design in his drawings, creating both fantastic graphical elements and adding to the message of his images.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The opening sequence is visual storytelling done right. "Brilliant" is how I described it to anyone who would listen. The art is complicated and dark, how a Vietnam jungle in war should be. The story looks far fetched (just look at the cover!) but works. Violent to the extreme but as it should be.

I am surprised by how impressed I am by a book with a smoking chimpanzee on the cover.
What happens next???

[Skye Kilaen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this series deeply compelling. However, a word of caution: This is a series focused on mostly white American soldiers in Vietnam, and that means a lot of on-page deaths of Vietnamese people who remain anonymous. The legitimacy of the war is challenged, but the visuals and focus might legitimately be Not Okay for some readers and that is so valid.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves so much more hype than it's gotten. Yes, there's the entire comics-crack monkies-with-guns element, but under that is a good story with genuine and interesting ethical considerations. And Brahm Revel can seriously draw.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Violent, but what do you expect of a comic set in the middle of the Vietnam War? I like the drawing and the writing but am just not personally that compelled by the story. However, if you like comics, and don’t mind gruesome check it out.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very promising new series. I am super intrigued by the interwoven threads of the morality of war/eugenics/bioethics/animal rights....very challenging. Appealing art, appropriately black and white. Gonna stick with this one.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the greatest book ever, and I'm not just saying that because I work for the publisher.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great art and solid storytelling. Very impressive. I just gotta know, why does the hero's object-of-affection look like Gwen Stacy? There has to be a reason.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monkeys with machine guns = 5 stars! Okay, so they're actually apes...minus 1 star. Regardless, it's a great read.

[Potatowast3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't have been happier with a book that came as a recommendation.

[Sarospice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Amazing! Can't wait to read the next chapters. Certainly more than apes with guns, but you get that too!

[John]

Whoa. This is a mind-blowingly good graphic novel. Super weird, but somehow completely accessible.