Guerillas Vol. 2

LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Right outof central casting come homesick newbie soldier John Francis Clayton, hisgung-ho veteran father, and his hard-bitten squadmates bushwacking through 'Namand watching friends get killed far too often. But Clayton's in for someoutside-the-box challenges: a crew of chain-smoking chimpanzee soldiers goneAWOL. The chimp corps takes this war comic to a wilder and more interestingplace. All seven animals are depicted as individual, idiosyncratic characterswith nearly plausible, if over-the-top, battle skills. Even Tarzan couldn't getoff machine-gun rounds with his feet. The chimps adopt the wounded Clayton, asRevel interweaves three narrative threads: Clayton's reminiscences, hisreal-time Vietnam slog with his squad and then with the chimps, and the fate ofanother squad, assigned to help a German scientist recapture the missing"soldiers" with the help of a nasty tracker baboon named Adolf. VERDICT Brahm'sgritty blacks and grays suit this enjoyable and socially relevant read, and thenarrative addresses plenty of real war horrors and the doomed futility of theentire Vietnam misadventure. This will mesmerize fans of war comics and actionstories. Older teens up due to violence and cursing. The concluding volume isexpected next year.