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Product Description
1942: In the tropical splendour of the South China sea, as the Second World War spreads across the far east, a young woman finds herself in paradise... and then in hell. Nurse Carrie Sutton is caught up in the Japanese invasion of Singapore, suffering horrors beyond her wildest nightmares — and survives! Now, she attempts to start her life anew, buoyed up by a growing friendship with a wounded pilot, only for fate to deliver up the last thing she ever expected. Carrie, at last, has a chance for revenge... but should she take it? In the midst of a world torn apart by war, you can fight and you can win, but you still might not get the things you truly want. More incredible stories from Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher) as his Battlefields series continues exclusively from Dynamite Entertainment! For this second mini-series — Dear Billy — Garth is joined by artist Peter Snejbjerg and cover artist John Cassaday for a haunting tale of wartime in 1942...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Dear Billy is a fantastically dark exploration of the horror of war. Instead of over the top battlefield violence we see in other comics, Ennis instead focuses on the inner torment being suffered by a young nurse during the war in the pacific.
THE GOOD:
Moving narration
Sadly and shockingly realistic
Authentic old fashioned art
No over the top violence or zany Ennis humour
The subject matter is treated with respect
THE BAD:
predictable ending
some may find the bleakness a little too. . . er . . . bleak
Overall, a great continuation of a great series.
THE GOOD:
Moving narration
Sadly and shockingly realistic
Authentic old fashioned art
No over the top violence or zany Ennis humour
The subject matter is treated with respect
THE BAD:
predictable ending
some may find the bleakness a little too. . . er . . . bleak
Overall, a great continuation of a great series.
Format:Paperback
Garth Ennis has consistently produced top quality stories and scripts for years -- Punisher, Preacher, Lost Souls, Hellblazer and many others. You know you will get a satisfying reading experience from an Ennis comic. He seems to have an affinity with war stories, and with these Battlefields series, in particular Dear Billy, he really has raised his game. From the terrible events depicted at the start, to the shocking final panel (you must not read ahead!), you are gripped to see how the story will unfold, what will happen to the characters, and why it is written as a letter in the first place. Highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A moving story about the costs of war.
22 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
Garth Ennis is a writer of two modes: on the one hand, there is the bitter grouse who resent the pre-eminence of the superhero genre in comics and takes every opportunity to make known his dislike of them (except Superman) whenever he writes their comics, or comics mocking them (ha ha, remember the time Kyle Rayner was drugged and molested by Bueno Excellente?); on the other hand, there is the Garth Ennis who writes things like the "Battlefields" series of miniseries for Dynamite (one of the numerous small publishing labels that largely subsists on creator-owned projects), where he shows his tremendous talent for writing interesting stories. This is the second "Battlefields" miniseries, but they all stand alone. Some spoilers follow.
"Dear Billy" is the story of Carrie Sutton, an English girl whose longing to see the Orient led to her taking a job as a nurse in Singapore - this turns out to have been a spectacularly bad idea, as the year in 1942, and she finds herself smack dab in the middle of one of the greatest debacles in British imperial history. Fleeing Singapore following General Percival's surrender to the Japanese invasion force, she and her fellow nurses are intercepted, gang-raped, and then machine-gunned and left for dead in the waters. The sole survivor, Carrie is rescued by a passing RAF flying boat, and ends up working at a hospital in Calcutta, keeping the details of her rape a secret from everyone else. She enters into a romantic relationship with the titular Billy, a pilot who ends up in the hospital before rejoining the front. But when Japanese POWs begin arriving at the hospital for treatment, Carrie embarks on a bloody course of action.
Framed as a letter to Billy explaining the whole story (hence, the title), readers will perceive from the first page that this is a story not likely to end at all happily, though you feel so profoundly for the characters involved that you hope that it will somehow (really, the goal of such). Isolated by social conventions, Carrie feels unable to relate the trauma that has so thoroughly taken over her life because to do so would lead to her being marked as `damaged'. Thus, she suffers in silence, and nurses her hatred against the Japanese. Ennis addresses a familiar theme here: characters so damaged and/or defined by their wartime roles and experiences that they are not willing or able to face the idea of the war being over. That is the great divide between Carrie and Billy (who has himself been mauled by Japanese soldiers, but in a way that was perhaps less personally invasive, and that he is able to relate to others without feeling ashamed).
Ennis hits a home run as a writer here. Carrie, Billy, and the two major supporting characters, American intelligence officers, are all very well-drawn. Most of the features of Ennis' work are present here (such as graphic and unromanticized violence), but his mordant black humour is MIA, perhaps not being suited to the story being told. You feel profoundly for Carrie. The art, by Peter Snejbjerg, perfectly suits the tone of the story that Ennis is telling.
Highly recommended.
"Dear Billy" is the story of Carrie Sutton, an English girl whose longing to see the Orient led to her taking a job as a nurse in Singapore - this turns out to have been a spectacularly bad idea, as the year in 1942, and she finds herself smack dab in the middle of one of the greatest debacles in British imperial history. Fleeing Singapore following General Percival's surrender to the Japanese invasion force, she and her fellow nurses are intercepted, gang-raped, and then machine-gunned and left for dead in the waters. The sole survivor, Carrie is rescued by a passing RAF flying boat, and ends up working at a hospital in Calcutta, keeping the details of her rape a secret from everyone else. She enters into a romantic relationship with the titular Billy, a pilot who ends up in the hospital before rejoining the front. But when Japanese POWs begin arriving at the hospital for treatment, Carrie embarks on a bloody course of action.
Framed as a letter to Billy explaining the whole story (hence, the title), readers will perceive from the first page that this is a story not likely to end at all happily, though you feel so profoundly for the characters involved that you hope that it will somehow (really, the goal of such). Isolated by social conventions, Carrie feels unable to relate the trauma that has so thoroughly taken over her life because to do so would lead to her being marked as `damaged'. Thus, she suffers in silence, and nurses her hatred against the Japanese. Ennis addresses a familiar theme here: characters so damaged and/or defined by their wartime roles and experiences that they are not willing or able to face the idea of the war being over. That is the great divide between Carrie and Billy (who has himself been mauled by Japanese soldiers, but in a way that was perhaps less personally invasive, and that he is able to relate to others without feeling ashamed).
Ennis hits a home run as a writer here. Carrie, Billy, and the two major supporting characters, American intelligence officers, are all very well-drawn. Most of the features of Ennis' work are present here (such as graphic and unromanticized violence), but his mordant black humour is MIA, perhaps not being suited to the story being told. You feel profoundly for Carrie. The art, by Peter Snejbjerg, perfectly suits the tone of the story that Ennis is telling.
Highly recommended.
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