Titan Comics 2017
Written by Dan Watters
Illustrated by Piotr Kowalksi & Ronilson Freire
Coloured by Brad Simpson & Thiago Ribeiro
Lettered & Edited by Jonathan Stevenson
Meanwhile, in 1946, a young Emilie has infiltrated Hans Hartmann’s New Castle Wolfenstein under the pretence of aiding him in his nefarious genetic experiments. But Terror Billy is coming for Hartmann, intent on wiping him, his castle and the entire Regime from the face of the Earth...
While this was nowhere near what I thought it was going to be I have to say Dan not only surprised me but he made me a huge fan of this alternate reality. While it may not make me rush out to try the game it certainly puts thoughts into my head. While the idea that the Reich won World War II Isn't new and has been explored before this one is different. Yes, we have freedom fighters and yes, we have the use of science in ways that are currently not possible, well at least as far as the public is concerned. Altogether this makes for a nice base for this story.
Dan isn't content with nice he wants more and he gets it in the form of the supernatural. Raising a whole castle from the depths of the ocean during WWII would be near impossible, at least one would think. Then of course there is the fact that after it's raised it affects local villagers and almost kind of turns them into zombie like creatures. Honestly, it's a nice touch and one that almost ensures their cooperation. Just the effect of the raised castle onto land should be the first sign that something about it isn't right and should be sent back from whence it came.
In the present Emelie is helping to fight still. Seeing all these hybrid soldiers and all the equipment that is wonderfully foreign in design meaning that there were advances in science and technology that we didn't get in this timeline. That kind of creativity and imagination is the basis of good science fiction writing and by adding the horror element to it well it just completes the picture even more. Actually, it is this part of the story where Emelie recounts her time at Castle Wolfenstein for the benefit of the Professor she's with. This is where the story really gets told.
God, I love the artwork here both Piotr and Ronilson are amazing and talented illustrators and it's easy to see that one got the present the other the past. The fact that however that you can see a cohesion from one to the other is what's really impressive. Page layouts with their angles and perspective are extremely well done and keep the flow of the story seemingly moving at a good pace. The past to me has more opportunity for backgrounds because of its setting and the chance to create mood better. Then there's the attention to detail in the present that makes these machine men scary. I mean the depth of the creativity in the work here is superb.
I really liked this story as it's told by Emelie. How Terror Billy was involved and that he tends to come back when he's needed. How It's either a story or something that legitimately happened is left up to the reader to decide. Regardless the story fits perfectly into this world's image and timeline. Whether it's told from the past or the presents point of view doesn't matter because what Dan has done here is open up two worlds of possibilities that are ready for exploration. Yeah I'd like to see more of what had in that Castle come to life and be used but with what we see in the present it looks like there's another ancient stronghold that would serve to bring those back and create a new arc.
That this is two oversized issues and completes the story is nicely done and seems to be something that we're seeing more of here. It makes a three or four issue run into a two issue run and is well worth the extra price.