Uber Volume 1 will simultaneously intrigue and horrify readers
In advance of Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wjingaard’s upcoming comic The Power Fantasy, we’re revisiting some of Gillen’s previous creator-owned work.
Uber has been on my “to-read” list for the better part of a decade. It’s an alternate history/superhero comic from Kieron Gillen, Canaan White, Keith Williams, and Digikore Studios set in World War II where the Germans are on the edge of surrender (Hitler literally has a gun in his mouth.), but then they have a breakthrough with superhumans, who are of course called “Ubermensch”, drive the Soviet Red Army back, and prolong the war beyond its actual historical end. The first volume introduces this brave new world with a huge ensemble cast, including actual historical figures like Winston Churchill, Heinz Guderian, and of course, Adolf Hitler, and shows the superhuman arms race between Nazi Germany and the Allies, predominantly the United Kingdom. White and Williams’ visuals marry Bryan Hitch’s widescreen visuals (Especially when the superhumans use their abilities.) with the grit, grime, and entrails of Darick Robertson’s work on The Boys. Uber reads like an intelligent, blockbuster war film or miniseries, but the ultraviolence and “equal time” given to both Nazis and Allies means that it would probably not be greenlit so it’s nice to see its creators use the creative freedom provided at a small publisher like Avatar Press to tell a story that is both well-researched (Gillen wrote a 30,000 word series bible.) and visceral.
Although English spy Stephanie is a total badass and provides the few hopeful moments of the series when she steals the Nazi formula for creating superhumans as well as copies of the books with information about enhancing humans, Uber isn’t constrained by a typical hero/villain narrative. But this action is tempered by her torturing and experimenting on participants in the German superhuman programs. Gillen and Canaan White cut between the Allies, Germans, and Soviets and almost journalistically show their motivations, strategies, and moral failings. The Nazis have the most, of course, like when Hitler overrides his generals and tells the superhumans to kill almost one million Soviet prisoners. Moments like this along with Allied characters dropping like flies throughout the volume adds a tone of menace and fear, especially in the climactic battle where the German female superhuman Klaudia aka Sieglinde eviscerates the British superhuman, the American-born O’Connor revealing that this isn’t going to be a Marvel MAX Captain America comic.
The horrific side effects around the testing and creation of superhumans whether Ubermensch or His Majesty’s Humans (HMH) are a heightened version of real life eugenics projects done during World War II and shows that everyone involved has blood on their hands except for the test subjects themselves. Uber really is more of a horror comic than a superhero one. For example, what in most superhero media would be a run-of-the-mill training montage of a superhuman lifting a car ends up having intestines flying everywhere because an HMH recruit pushed his limits a little too early. Also, the combat in Uber is more war movie and less stylized action with Kieron Gillen’s captions setting up strategies and troop deployment while White, Williams, and Digikore’s visuals show the utter destructive capability of the superhumans as well as their weaknesses. In fact, Gillen sets up a pecking order of superhumans with human tanks acting as enhanced foot soldiers while the battleship class ones like the aforementioned Klaudia are the obliterate entire armies/cities power level. This keeps the action from turning into a retread of Miracleman and leaves room for actual military tactics like any time Guderian is involved. However, for all of Heinz Guderian’s contempt for Hitler and skill at setting up tank assaults, he’s still a fascist and never pulls a Claus von Stauffenburg or even Erwin Rommel because he wants an armistice and to simply not lose the war.
Another interesting aspect of Uber Volume 1 is how Kieron Gillen pokes holes into the “great man” theory of history in his portrayal of Winston Churchill. His perspective on the beloved prime minister/imperialist stooge fits somewhere in between those two extremes as Churchill is open to new ideas like the fact that the Germans have superhumans, but also wants the Cliff’s notes of Stephanie’s intel on the Ubermensch and to immediately have her head up the British superhuman project although she’s traumatized from working deep cover with the Germans. Gillen gently roasts his obsession with the perfect turn of phrase in some of his interactions with different generals and officials while also showing his take-charge attitude that was the opposite of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement approach to Hitler and Nazi Germany. But the most haunting scene is the final page of the comic where he opens a desk with a handgun and bullets showing that, like Hitler, he would rather die than be captured. The gun stays in the drawer showing that he still has some hope for the war although Paris lost major landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral in the battle at the end of the volume. It sets up a tense race between Germany and the Allies with the Nazis having the better superhumans while the United Kingdom has the chemical compound that creates them as well as skilled codebreakers like Alan Turing to figure out how to use them more effectively in battle.
Beginning with a paradigm-shifting opening issue that showcases the awe-inspiring power of the Nazi superhumans, Uber is a heightened look at the horrors of war and genetic experimentation set during the last “good war”. It’s not thrilling in a traditional sense, but Kieron Gillen, Canaan White, and company give the story solid narrative momentum, especially when the British build their own superhumans to counter the Germans. I’m simultaneously intrigued and horrified by Uber and definitely plan on seeing how it diverges from actual history, especially in the upcoming issues that look at other fronts of World War II.
Story: Kieron Gillen Pencils: Canaan White
Inks: Keith Williams Colors: Digikore Studios Letters: Kurt Hathaway
Story: 8.8 Art: 7.8 Overall: 8.3 Verdict: Buy
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