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This is my personal review of Purple Heart - Volume 1: Savior by Warnauts (Author/Illustrator) and by Raives (Illustrator) and it’s a big deal for me because it is the first time I have read and reviewed a Graphic Novel. (That is if you don’t count the Betty and Veronica comics I read as a kid)
We are introduced to our main character who is just your basic American, flag waving, young man freshly home from World War II where he was wounded and received a Purple Heart. He’s having trouble acclimating to his former life in New York, but manages to get a job working for his former boss at a Manhattan law firm as an investigator. Immediately he becomes embroiled in a blackmail plot involving a powerful man, wanting to get into politics and his young Eurasian wife that he rescued from a Japanese brothel.
And if that’s not enough stress for our recovering hero, he discovers that a couple of Nazis have made their way stateside and are following and threatening his Jewish friend, a holocaust survivor who owns a local pawn shop.
The plot is well paced and interesting with a creative way of resolving the various problems that arise. I often felt like I was watching an old gangster movie complete with thugs, dames, doll faces, stereotypical sidekicks and a wise cracking, feisty saloon keeper with a heart of gold. And because of this homage to film noir (whether intentional or not) I found several of the characters and their dialogue predictable for that time and place.
As for the illustrations, they were the highlight of this book as they continued to perpetrate the film noir ambiance. Lush and full of details, the dialogue would often stop for several pages and let the pictures take over the whole of the story telling. For this reason I suggest you take some extra time to examine the drawings in order to pick up more of what they are telling you, because there is a lot of information within them.
What I disliked the most about this graphic novel was the large amount of graphic sex, vulgarity and swearing (at about a PG-13 level) which I felt was unnecessary and didn’t serve to enhance the plot of the story. For that reason I have removed a star from its rating. But with all the effort and attention to detail I was not surprised to find no grammatical or spelling errors and only one typo. I definitely would not recommend this to children, not only due to its graphic content, but because I don’t think they will find it interesting enough to keep their attention. It’s really not my type of story either, but it impressed me enough that I’m sure Purple Heart will merely be the first of me reading many other Graphic Novels. In fact, I am looking forward to the sequel to Purple Heart as the title suggests there will be.
But for anyone who would enjoy a post war, mystery story with a film noir vibe, this book could be enjoyed by either a man or a woman of any age. Although, I suspect men will relate more to the tough but inwardly tortured, struggling main character.
I have given it 3 out of 4 stars according to the Online Book Club rating system and I thank you for reading another of my reviews.
Sincerely, Laura-Lee
