Review: Iron Squad #1: Red Commando 1/2

Iron Squad #1: Red Commando 1/2 by Jean-Luc Sala
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating 4 out of 5 | Grade: B; Command & Conquer, mecha edition

Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge that the period of the World wars is one of the darkest parts of human history. One which causes death, destruction & suffering on a continental scale. One which put into the collective consciousness, horrors pertaining to humanity, depths to which we never thought men could stoop to. Suffering and testament to human will, in Ethnic genocide & concentration camp (Something which is still being carried out by the ahem, ‘world’s next superpower’). It’s something which has shaped Geopolitical events for almost 80 years since. Not something to be made light of.



Having said that, fictional stories where the Axis win the war, and establish a new world order, are a dime a dozen. It might be because, like me, there is a dedicated niche following of readers who guzzle it all up, like junk food, at Mcdonalds or Coke.

Be it Nazis finding an alien artifact with intructions to create supersoldiers and then almost winning the war, in Uber.

Or Nazis resorting to Necromancy to reanimate gods of the Norse Pantheon to wage war on their behalf in, The Lifeeaters.

Or Hitler’s assassination, followed by reshuffling of the Nazi high command, making them more competent, leading to the war continuing well into the 60s in Block 109.

Or, the grandfather of all these Nazis with Jetpacks stories, ‘The man in the High castle’, by Philip. K. Dick, where a series of very specific historical anomalies tilt the war in favor of the Axis.

No matter how much time you see the same song and dance, you just keep going back to that little variable that turns the whole thing in a different direction. Perhaps, it’s because those who crave a chance to rewrite history, perhaps our own. A sort of wish fulfillment, saying, ‘If only I could go back in time, and change x & y, then everything will be right in the world; and in my life. And much like the recent fans of Youtube Foodtubers or Mukbangers, we’re trying to vicariously live through these stories, in a world much different from our own.

Although I do feel all of this is just an unnecessary prelude, as Iron Squad, by Jean-Luc Sala is hardly a reinvention of the Alternate History wheel. It’s just, yet another entry, that follows the same blueprint as all the stories listed above.

This time around, the Nazis, manage to find a whole new power source, called Neptunium, which allowed them to construct giant mecha panzer, metallic titans, which allowed them to break the allied offensive at the battle of the Bulge, driving them back decisively.



Naturally, following this, the entire allied Western front collapses, and the nazis manage to hit locations as far as Washington & New York with their new technological superiority.

In time, what remained of the Western Allies, and the Soviet Union, manage to reverse engineer some of the German tech, but it’s too late to stop the juggernaut of the Axis war effort. Complemented by similarly mechanized forces of Imperial Japan in the Pacific, the war is going pretty badly for the ‘good’ guys.

At some point, it started feeling like the Graphic novel equivalent of the Command & Conquer games, which, if you haven’t played them, is absurdly hilarious & entertaining in how jack shit bonkers they are. Do check them out.

The six issues of the Iron Squad, focus on several groups of Allied resistance groups, in the remnants of the Soviet Union, USA & Europe, who are attempting to take the fight to the formidable German-Axis war machine in hopes of evening out the playing field. To what extent they succeed remains to be seen. (One thing I find hilarious is how, in none of the alternate history fiction, does Mussolini’s Italy ever get to come out on top. They’re almost always cannon fodder, or not mentioned at all. They’re like the Yamcha of the Axis)



First two chapters of the story, focusing on a group of crack Russian pilots, trying to take over a Nazi supermega panzer is filled with gorgeous visuals, which are arguably the best of the collection. It also showcases some of the most intense and eye popping mecha versus battles.



All culminating in a heart breaking conclusion, which in hindsight you should’ve seen coming seeing this is from the Russian perspective. Tragedies, Vodka & suicidal novelist, the three best exports from that part of the continent.



This story, while par for course, has nonetheless gotten me interested in what will follow. Here’s to seeing what Imperial Japan has to offer in terms of Mecha from the other side of the pacific.



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