Product Description: Team Orphan, a U.S. Special Forces team made up of three hardened soldiers, has been tasked with assassinating a maniacal terrorist guilty of genocide on a massive scale. In their desperate quest to rid the world of the rogue terrorist, Team Orphan will soon learn they are not the only ones seeking his death. The terrorist's many small victims - the children he has destroyed - have returned from the dead, bent on revenge. Team Orphan is caught in the middle, wondering who they should fear most: the terrorist, themselves or the Children of the Grave?
A movie set in the sequential form Tom Waltz found his artistic soul mate in Casey Maloney and it's evident in their first pairing, Children of the Grave. The duo deliver a taut, horror filled tale at breakneck pace in these 128 pages offered up by IDW.
COTG is the story of the aptly named Team Orphan in a fictional Middle Eastern country. Their roll is to eliminate a ruthless dictator. Along the way the leader of Team Orphan has some strange encounters. And then it spreads.
Waltz spins a yarn that could be ripped from today's headlines. Ethnic cleansing, mass graves, zombies...Well, maybe not the last part. He paces the story perfectly to the final page leaving us wanting more Orphan. The only fault I could find was that, perhaps, he toned down the use of "salty" language by Team Orphan. Anyone who has spent anytime around members of the military will know they have honed obscenity to an art form. There's also a scene where light discipline isn't maintained, but I figure Team Orphan is the baddest bunch of bada&@es around, so they could handle anything thrown at them.
Which leads me to the art of Casey Maloney. The aforementioned scene with the cigarette is just one of many where his art astonishes. I realize it's just a scene with guys talking, but it shows his attention to detail and ability to draw the reader in. He goes to great lengths to show such details in the story that I had to read the book two or three times just to make sure I fully appreciated his art. The griminess of the children, the carnage of battle, the accurate weaponry...Maloney shows off his mastery of the artistic skills in this book.
So if you're still reading this, what are you waiting for? Buy the book already? I have the original copies, the original trade and the color version. It's that good. Trust me. You won't regret it. It's easily the best independent war series to come out in the past five years.
It Delivers! Children of the Grave delivers an unflinching view of a fictional black-ops unit operating in the Middle East... who run into more than they bargained for in their latest mission. Written by Tom Waltz and drawn by Casey Maloney, the work draws authenticity from Tom's own military experience.
Both the writing and the artwork are quite good and the book delivers on several levels. There's plenty of in-your-face, blood-and-guts action and a growing creepiness as the members of team Orphan1 begin to realize what's really going on. However, Waltz reveals a depth to his characters not common in such works as he draws us into the spiritual journey underlying the events. At the end, the book is strangely uplifting.
A fine addition to my graphic novel collection.
COG - Great Read The underlying theme is terrorism, but this story takes a new approach at capturing the moral and social effects and packaging it in a comic book format. Very innovative.
The art work is classically elegant, and intensifies the story. The writing flows naturally, and carries the reader along the journey, using authentic military details. The talent that was put into this book is captivating.
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