Guerillas, Volume 2

In the middle of the Vietnam War a special unit of trained chimpanzee soldiers stops following orders and takes the war into its on hands, only to be pursued by a platoon of soldiers who can’t help but feel that they, too are being used as unwilling tools by some force more powerful. Revel’s second volume contrasts the stories of the two groups. The chimpanzees have abandoned their masters and are carrying out the combat against Viet-Cong troops they’ve been trained for. Human private John Francis Clayton sticks along for the journey because the chimps offer what he feels is the only safety in a dangerous land. Meanwhile Captain Stewart, his recon team, and German scientist Dr. Kurt Heisler, the trainer of the chimpanzees, follow in close pursuit. But they’re increasingly unnerved as they observe the devastation the chimps leave behind them. Revel’s story provides a mix of both action movie combat and meditations on the horrors of war and the unfairness of forcing individuals into a fight they don’t want to participate in to further someone else’s goals. The story succeeds because of the emotion he’s able to evoke from the chimpanzees through facial expressions, hand gestures, and grunts alone. (July)