Enemy Ace (4 points)

I liked Enemy Ace. The art is great with really expressive watercolor paintings, and you can see the earlier stages to how Pratt has developed and refined his craft into now. I thought the story and writing were interesting too. It felt like a very human story to me, even though I’ve never been to war. So maybe I just can’t tell because of lack of real world experience in war, but it felt honest to me. Rather than follow the adventures of the Enemy Ace as a hero, it was really more about two people trying to deal with their trauma from the horrors of war. The Enemy Ace is able to help Mannock’s survivor’s guilt through his recounting of events and advice about how he has dealt with the lives he took and the comrades he lost. I liked the Enemy Ace as a character as well, he actually reminded me somewhat of the later chapters Musashi from Vagabond, at least his views on the ethics of killing others. Both Musashi and the Enemy Ace killed people as a function of survival, and perfecting a craft. The Enemy Ace loved to fly, while Musashi loved the sword. The enemy Ace even mentions how it feels like the plane and him merge into one.They are both dragged into a cycle of killing from a love of their craft. Both are plagued by the souls of the dead. After the war, the Enemy Ace flying becomes the Enemy Ace’s reason to keep living. I also liked narratively how Pratt showed how even through war, people are somehow brought together. He does this by showing the Enemy Ace as isolated at first. He is isolated from the other German Soldiers, and even isolated and removed from the act of killing as he shoots others from a machine. He is brought together with others, when his plane crashes and he is shown the reality of war and the people a part of it. He sees the person he kills for the first time, and witnesses and helps an enemy soldier as he dies. The point is driven further, when the Christmas Truce happens, and among the dead he sees both sides come together.

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