The Stringbags

by Written by Garth Ennis; Drawn by P.J. Holden; Colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick; Lettered by Rob Steen

Dead Reckoning

Comics & Graphic Novels | History

Pub Date 20 May 2020 | Archive Date 1 Sep 2020

There is much to admire about The Stringbags, but it missed the mark for me. It left me with the feeling that I should have liked it more than I did. Stringbags follows the adventures of a fighter crew in World War 2 as part of Britain’s Royal Navy. Our heroes are not the top guns they are “the other guys” saddled with an outdated Fairey Swordfish biplanes. Garth Ennis writing of characters as always is splendid and especially of the banter between them is humorous. Ennis effortlessly establishes that these guys have been serving together a long time. And that they are looked down upon by colleagues and superiors. They are goofball underdogs determined to do their bit.

Holden does a masterful job of doing both the little and big things exceedingly well. The expressions of joy, frustrations, relief, and, horror on the faces of the characters are depicted with a deft touch. It has a feel of retro war comics. The actions scenes show the chaos, terror, and, excitement of battle. The colours by Fitzpatrick are slickly handled and give a real air of the 1940s to the book.

I think my problem with the book starts with its tone, which I felt was all over the place. At times it feels like an Ealing comedy where our lads are bungling from one scrape to another and then it pulls in another direction entirely by showing the full monstrosity of what humans do to each in battle. I read an interview where Ennis talks about the book, and he mentions that war while awful is also the arena where great acts of bravery are done. I think he tried to walk a line of showing that war is a terrible thing that should not happen and that it is also the arena for acts heroism. He is only partly successful. 

My other problem is a minor personal bugbear. Pilots on the Allied side in WW2 stories are almost always portrayed as British or American. The massive contribution that Polish and other European pilots played in the air defence efforts is overlooked. I know this is entirely irrelevant as there probably weren’t any Polish pilots in the engagements shown in the book. Irrational, I know, but it bothered me that this wasn’t mentioned. 

For fans of World War 2 stories, this book is highly recommended. The mixture of historical facts, technical accuracy, and, relatable protagonists works well. For everyone else, this is entertaining enough but fails to really soar.