Scott Mills has followed up BIG CLAY POT with just about as different a tale as you can imagine. TRENCHES is a story about three men, from different walks of life, brought together to fight in the First World War. From their enlistment - and the requisite "It'll be over by Christmas" farewell at the door - to their final fates, we follow these men to hell and back. The war doesn't care much for who they were before, or who they are now for that matter.
Whether it's the Allenby brothers, who occupy the lower social classes, or their commanding officer Hemmingway (a little too precious a name choice, sure), the war takes an identical toll on the men; in spite of their classes, upbringings, or fundamental differences - or their numerous similarities, as we come to see - these men are little more than cannon fodder for a machine well out of their control.
Mills' energetic, chaotic line calls to mind the works of Jon Lewis and Tom Hart; in viewing its deceptive simplicity, we lower our defenses and expectations to allow him to tell his rather adult tale of war with a child's simplicity.
Matt Fraction splits his time between motion graphics and design house MK12, writing comics, and reading comics. He is the author of the graphic novels The Annotated Mantooth and Last of the Independents, both available from AiT/Planet Lar. He can be found on the web at mattfraction.com. His wife is hot.
