Enjoyed this book by Garth Ennis. Interesting look at historical events. Definitely different, but definitely great. Never disappoints. #TheTankies #NetGalley

It is not a book for younger kids, but it did not appear to be meant for them. It was brutal. Then again, war is brutal. This book was not a glorification of war, but a much more realistic look at it. Instead of trying to explain what it might have been like to be in a tank, Ennis brought us into one. The readers rode along with the crew of a tank and got to experience, vicariously, the fear and uncertainty felt by those men. He took a historical event and brought it to life. And did a dang good job of it.

This book was pretty incomprehensible. Many of the characters had accents which the author incorporated by spelling them phonetically. On top of that, characters frequently used military jargon and period appropriate slang. I can understand the author wanting to include this for authenticity/accuracy, but it made it impossible for me to understand what was going on. Characters were dressed very similarly (military fatigues) which made it hard for me to tell the difference between people.

The Tankies collects three related tales previously published as part of Ennis's Battlefields series. All three feature tank commander Sgt. Stiles as he fights for the British in World War II and Korea. All three are fantastic, realistic and bloody. There's also a 15 page afterword at the end where Ennis explains how most of the things in the book came from real accounts from veterans. It also goes into how inferior the British and American tanks were compared to the Germans. Carlos Ezquerra's gritty and graphic artwork work really well in these stories.

The Tankies
A little snippet into the British's foray into Normandy and France. It follows a green tank outfit as the Brits get their arses kicked. Definitely displays the horrific side of war. This book is very graphic. Some of the accented dialog is hard to pick up. I found it's easier to understand if you speak it out loud so you can hear it too. Once I started with that I didn't have any issues. Of course, you probably want to do that when you're alone so you don't look like a child learning to read.

Firefly and His Majesty
Sgt. Stiles returns for a story set in Germany towards the end of the war. It's a great tale of cat and mouse as Stiles goes after a King Tiger German tank. The King Tigers had twice the armor and firepower but nowhere near the mobility and speed as the Shermans the Brits used. Tank battles in stories are a hard thing to get right but I think Ennis and Ezquerra nailed it. They do a great job of going through the strategies involved.

The Green Fields Beyond
Sgt Stiles is back, this time in the Korean War. He's on a hill holding the line. Through circumstances, he winds up out of his tank and with the infantry holding a hill as thousands of Chinese descend on it. When he finally gets his tank back it's a completely different kind of tank battle, as infantry is thrown up against the tanks trying to overwhelm them by sheer numbers and sticky bombs. It's gritty stuff. I think this was my favorite story of the "Tankies" yet. We see everything through the eyes of a green recruit and you feel really immersed in the fighting throughout the story, as if you are actually there.

I received this book for free from NetGalley to review it.
The rapid shifting of perspectives didn't work for me, mainly because there were many characters that barely looked any different from one another. The illustrations were great otherwise.

I had a great time reading this graphic novel. It takes readers into some famous wars from the past, told by accounts of soldiers who were actually there. In some wars these men found themselves massively outgunned, but they refused to give up. In another war, although they had better weapons this time, the enemy they faced seem stronger than ever. Yet as this graphic novel came to a close, it looked like most of these men would live to fight another day. This may not be a graphic novel for everyone, but some readers will enjoy it.

The Tankies is another collection of war tales from writer Garth Ennis and late artist Carlos Ezquerra. In this collection we follow Sergeant Stiles and his tank crew through two periods of WWII (one immediately following D-Day, the second later in the same war in German), while the final section shows us an older Stiles in Korea. The first two sections are everything you'd expect from Ennis: a combination of the romping adventure style from a traditional "Boy's Own" but with an added layer of acknowledgement of the general horror of war, plus some winking to the camera.

I came into this as a pre-existing fan of Ennis' military-themed books, and the first two sections lived up to my expectations in every way. I was somewhat less taken with the Korean War section, but only because while I could see where he was going, I wasn't 100% sold on the tone. Still, if you're a fan of Ennis' war tales (Battlefields, War Stories, or any of his takes on war-inspired subplots in superhero books), this will be an obvious one to pick up.

I read an advance electronic version via NetGalley, but Ezquerra's art definitely deserves to be seen on the page and not just on the screen. As always, his battle scenes are fantastically rendered.

'The Tankies' by Garth Ennis with art by the late Carlos Ezquerra is a collection of three sets of linked graphic novels from the Battlefields series all about an irascible tank commander named Stiles.

The first story takes place after D-Day as British tanks struggled to keep up with troops and stay intact fighting the superior Tigers. Stiles finds himself in charge of a Churchill and trying to catch up with the other units while being stalked by a Tiger.

In the second story, later in the war and now in Germany, Stiles finds himself crewing a Firefly tank and hunting the larger King Tiger.

The third story finds an aging Stiles in Korea in the hills of the Imjin River, fighting the fears of the past when the younger brother of a former tank crewmate shows up and wants to fight alongside him.

The book ends with a great essay by Garth Ennis about tankies and the influences for these stories. The stories are gritty and often pretty bloody, but I couldn't stop turning pages. Carlos Ezquerra's art is great and there is a nice section of his rough art at the back of the book.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dead Reckoning and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I’m a big sucker for anything world war 2. I’ve just recently gotten into graphic novels and this one blew me away. The story and illustrations were phenomenal

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

I’ve been a fan of Garth Ennis for a while, and while I definitely enjoy his classics such as Preacher or The Boys, I have grown very fond of his lesser-known military-themed books ever since I did a promotion a while back and inquired a whole slew of Battlefields books. When I saw that this volume was available, I jumped at the chance to check it out. I think the one thing I appreciate the most about these books is that, while definitely casting The Allies as heroes in most books, he doesn’t pull punches. Bad things happen in war, and its important to show that – for far too long we’ve been fed a steady stream of overly-patriotic Captain America vs Hitler stories, completely undermining the fact that war is horror-incarnate. Ennis excels at showing the human side of war, and the toll it takes.

"After D-Day the largely untried Allied armies meet their seasoned German counterparts on the killing grounds of Bocage country. As Panzers and SS units turn the French hedgerows into a slaughterhouse, a lone British tank crew struggles to rejoin their squadron. Their only hope lies in their commander, Corporal Stiles—but does even this wily old trooper stand a chance against the infamous Tiger? Newly promoted but just as angry, Sergeant Stiles enters the battle for Germany in command of a Sherman Firefly—capable of taking out any tank thus far encountered. Unfortunately, the enemy have a new tank of their own, the mighty “King Tiger,” with twice the firepower of the original. As Stiles and his men join the Allied advance into the Nazi homeland, they find worse horrors than Tigers lurking in the German twilight." Book description.

This volume is comprised of nine comics, grouped into three separate story-arcs in the life of Sergeant Stiles, a tough as nails tank commander from Newcastle that has seen it all in the world of mechanized combat and is one of the few who has lived to tell the tale. Usually lamenting on the poor state of British tank engineering in the face of ever increasing mechanical brutality from Germany, Stiles is well respected despite his Geordie accent being a focal point of mocking. One little tidbit I enjoyed was that we learn Stiles is Pagan when they were forced to shell a German church, makes me like him even more.

The third section takes place during the Korean War, which I am glad to see. My Grandfather served in that war, and I always think it gets largely ignored by just about everyone, so seeing it here was awesome. It was crazy to see the shift in battlefield tactics. German tank commanders in parts one and two almost seem aristocratic and machine-like vs the relentless hordes of Chinese soldiers they come across in Korea. Men climbing on the tanks, trying to drop bombs in the engines, doing suicidal attacks. Sheer insanity I can imagine.

Carlos Ezquerra (1947–2018) was the artist for this series, and I have seen him do the pencils for much of Ennis’s war books – he’s great at the technical side of historical aircrafts, tanks, guns etc, as well as depicting humans and the actions of war. When I saw that the book was dedicated to him, I was sad as he was always a n artist I looked forward to seeing in this genre. Best known as one of the original creators of Judge Dredd, Ezquerra will be VERY missed.

This was a great book, and any fan of war comics, history, or honestly anyone into comics at all should check out. Stiles is a great character, and I’d love to see him pop up again, although I’d imagine this will be all as it ends in a decent spot. I loved the afterward, which is a lengthy essay detailing where some of the ideas for the book came from, you can tell Ennis is interested in teaching history here, and as a history buff, I loved it.

I am not usually a fan of the comic book war genre, however, this book is superb! A picture really does paint a thousand words.
The book covers horrendous battle experiences shown through the eyes of Corporal Stiles, a Geordie tankie, covering campaigns from Normandy through to the post-WW2 Korean conflict.
The drawings are perfectly drawn with a highly knowledgeable perspective of both the mechanics of warfare, actual events, and the conflicting emotions of the participants. The battle scenes are very graphic and portray the everyday horrors experienced by a typical tank crew from any nationality.. I particularly enjoyed the relationships between the various protagonists, as well as the Waffen SS troops.
From a military history perspective, my only small observations on the drawings were that British tank crews did not wear DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) uniforms during WW2 (only the paras and commandos wore a form of camouflage). Also, my favourite tank, the Sherman Firefly, normally had its extra-long barrel camouflaged to prevent it from becoming a key target for the German gunners. However, neither of these minor nerdish comments detracted from the overall accuracy and enjoyment of the book,
I would also like to thank the author for the excellent descriptive narrative at the back of the book.
In hindsight, it is extremely sad that the British Army was supplied with such poorly designed tanks throughout most of WW2.
Thanks to the team who produced such a moving and thoughtful book.

An interesting graphic novel. Good art work and story. If you enjoy graphic novels, you will enjoy this.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.