Major Eazy: Heart of Iron - Volume 1 | WWII Graphic Novel | War Comics Collection | Perfect for History Buffs & Comic Book Lovers

You probably know all this if you're reading this review, but just in case: for the uninitiated:Battle Picture weekly was a weekly British Comics from 1970's that, along with fellow titles Action and 2000AD, revolutionised British comics by bringing the reader stories that were grimmer, gritter, and more realistic than those told before. Action was general action stories from various genres. 2000AD was science fiction stories. And Battle brought us war stories. A very popular genre at the time, since World War Two had finished just over thirty years before and was still reasonably fresh in the mind.Launched in early 1976, after the comic had been going for a little while, was a new story featuring the exploits of Major Eazy. When British troops involved in the 1943 landings in Sicily find their commanding officer killed moments after they landed, a new Major comes along to take charge. Eazy. A man who dresses in a rather casual outfit. Smokes. Has zero respect for authority and procedure. And does things in a very casual and often laid back manner. He drives a Bentley around the battlefields. But he's also a superb marksman, a brilliant tactician, and excellent in a fight.Alongside stalwart and long suffering sidekick Sgt. Daly, this volume collects the first two Major Eazy series, which take him all the way from Sicily, and north up Italy right to the end of the war in May 1945.All the stories presented here run for three pages and are completely self contained. Although some will go slightly longer in the page count and there is one two parter.Thus you get thirty four instalments, all in this one large hardback collection.The art is from Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra - who has had a long and distinguished career since and who still draws for 2000AD to this day - is excellent. It's all in black and white. Some pages that were originally in colour are presented this way and thus the shading looks a little different.The source material is rare and old and thus the quality of the reproductions can vary slightly, but once you get into reading this you probably won't notice. As any variations are very slight.Given that this was originally written in the 1970's a disclaimer warns that some of the dialogue, which may have seemed okay at the time, might cause offence to some today. But since those reading this are probably those who read it when Battle first came out, you probably won't mind.It has an introduction which is done in the form of an interview with Alan Hebden, the writer of the stories. Which is a very interesting read.And there's also a gallery at the end of several Battle picture weekly covers that featured Major Eazy.This volume is a masterclass in comic writing, given that each story is complete and self contained, and yet tells new readers everything they would need to know. The invention is superb, as the plotting is always original and never gets repetitive.And Eazy is a great character. Because he does the things that you wish you could do. And the writing does keep a lot of his background and his past an engima.There were other series for the character that followed these ones, so here's hoping they get collected as well.But in the meantime this is a glorious piece of comics nostalgia and an essential purchase for those who grew up in the 1970's reading this kind of thing. They don't make 'em like this anymore. But you can be reminded - forever - of what they used to be like.This volume does contain the Major Eazy strips that were in The Best of "Battle": Vol 1 so some of them may be familiar from that. But that only contained a handful of them, so the bulk of this will be stuff Battle fans won't have seen in a long time.