Aleksandra is a married mother of two living the life of a Russian peasant on their farm - until the war begins and her husband is drafted into the Red Army. And then the Nazis arrive. After helping her Jewish neighbour, Aleksandra and her kids must escape into the woods where they discover the Russian resistance to the German invasion: guerrilla fighters made up of non-army Russians called Partisans. So begins Aleksandra’s war where she does things she would never tell her husband… if she ever sees him again.
Partisan is a sort of spiritual sequel to Garth Ennis and Steve Epting’s incredible comic Sara, in that it’s the same creative team returning to the same era, World War 2, to tell a new story again from the perspective of Russians as they fight against Hitler’s troops invading the Motherland. While I don’t think it’s as good as Sara, Partisan is still a very powerful read.
The first chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book: it is absolutely brutal. Not that anybody who knows anything about what the Nazis did will be surprised, but it’s still disturbing to see mass murder portrayed so starkly - and then the tragedy of Rakhila, the Jewish neighbour, doing what she does to ensure their small group isn’t discovered is heartbreaking.
The action scenes are first class, all the way. The second chapter raises the stakes and shows the desperate actions ordinary people end up having to make, how (unsurprisingly) disorganised non-army regulars can be when it comes to military planning, and the cold-blooded consequences of their actions. The sacrifices and bravery of what these people went through is astonishing.
That said, I felt like the book was a bit chaotic - it didn’t really have a goal it was building up to, it was just a series of random action scenes - and lacked a strong narrative thread. That may well be part of the intent though - real war doesn’t have a storyline, and guerrilla fighters are just going from one fight to another hoping that they survive.
The characters are somewhat unmemorable as well. Aleksandra is a stoic, practical woman who does what she has to to keep her kids alive. I feel like this is not an especially unique character-type in fiction nor in Ennis’ other war comics either. The supporting cast are similarly unimpressive. It’s not that he writes the Partisans as saints and the Nazis as devils - there is nuance here (the German soldiers drinking themselves into a stupor to enact war crimes, some of the Partisans being as intolerant and bigoted as the Nazis), it’s just that no one character really stood out prominently as unique.
Which makes the non-action scenes a bit slow as I wasn’t that invested in the characters outside of Aleksandra’s immediate circle. Although Ennis does make the astute point through his child author character that these people were not politically motivated to do what they did. Aleksandra and people like her fought for their families, not for a corrupted ideology like communism that was as bad as fascism.
The only really egregious part of the plotting for me was how Aleksandra escaped the Gestapo interrogator towards the end. It’s such an exciting plot point that Ennis gets out of by using a deus ex machina that was very disappointing. That and the final part, which led to an ending that was too pat, felt like a bit of a forced cop out.
Steve Epting’s art is always good. I’ve been reading his comics for years and I’ve never once felt like his artwork was anything less than utterly masterful. He finds the humanity in the characters’ faces and body language, bringing out the devastating power, energy and fear in the battle scenes, and takes you back to this time and place in a way that feels like nothing short of time travel. I don’t know enough about the history to say whether the way the uniforms, equipment, and vehicles are accurate, but I know Ennis takes extra care to ensure this authenticity in his war books and Epting draws it all beautifully.
Jordie Bellaire’s colours are equally impressive, finding depth and dimension to the spare, unforgiving nature of the Russian countryside. She enhances certain scenes with apt colour choices - sombre blues when the group walks through the town of hanged civilians, orange for moments of brutality, like the execution scenes. One scene in particular is very impressively coloured: when the Partisans are walking through the forest in daylight and the light and shadows of the leaves reflect on their faces. It’s so skillful.
Partisan is a riveting war drama telling a story that, from my knowledge of war comics, has never been told before, and highlighting an important group of brave people who played a significant role in defeating the Nazis. Compared to Garth Ennis’ many excellent war comics, Partisan isn’t as great as some of them (War Stories, Battlefields, and the aforementioned Sara are all well-worth reading if you’re interested in this subject and haven’t read them yet), because of some questionable plotting and weak characterisation. There’s still a lot here that’s utterly fascinating to read though and the art team are among the best in the business, making Partisan a really good comic, and a must-read for fans of Ennis or war comics in general.
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