Review: Out Of The Blue Volume 1

I’m sure you’re all familiar with Garth Ennis. I mean, he’s iconic for writing some of the best and darkest Constantine arcs as well as all those lovely little violent gems like Preacher – that’s now an AMC show – and Crossed. Ennis is well known for pushing boundaries and making people somewhat uncomfortable, be it from the amount of bloodshed you find in his work, assault, or otherwise. He’s not shy about writing things that might make people feel a certain way either about content or language.

This interesting little period piece set during World War II is illustrated by Keith Burns, whose art reminds me of Peter Panzerfaust with colors by Jason Wordie and letters by Rob Steen. It’s actually something of a departure from the things I typically read from Ennis. Which, by the way, isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable. There’s still a little violence there, but that also falls into the category of being true to the times so I take no offense to that (nor do I ever really take offense to much of what Ennis writes. There is some rough language, perhaps, if you’re someone who gets triggered with the historical accuracy of the verbage and slang.

Still, Out Of The Blue manages to be a unique little read that’s more drama than anything else. I’m not sure there are any real upcoming changes for this title but I enjoy the fact that it’s more centric to characters and their own person developments and demons. Sure, there’s still action within in the pages but it really takes a back seat to all the rest of the goings on. We’re mostly learning more about Flight Lieutentant McKenzie’s life and what struggles he faces going into a new position with the Flight Squardon itself. This forces a hand to extend itself to a reside misfit by the name of Joesph Rajaram.

Couple this with all the problems Rajaram and McKenzie experience both in and out of the cockpit and you have a nice little story built on the interrelationships between people who are slowly learning to work with one another; ones that may or may not have other intentions. The latter being especially true when speaking of Broome, McKenzie’s commanding officer.

While this title is very outside what I may read typically, I can say that it was interesting…enough so that I read every page easily (a feat for someone who is like me and has the attention span of a cockroach.) If you’re into titles that aren’t typical escapism, you might want to check out this great little 4 out of 5 star read.

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(W) Garth Ennis (A/CA) Keith Burns