A British spy strives to escape Nazi-occupied Holland during Operation Market Garden.
Creative Staff:
Story: Antonio Gil
Art: Antonio Gil
What They Say
In October 1943, all the Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents in Holland are captured by the Germans . . . except one. John Hewson, a.k.a. “Boekman,” is the most dangerous agent to the German occupiers, with vital information about the German army, Boekman escapes the clutches of the S.S. and stays hidden until the start of the largest airborne operation in World War II: Operation Market Garden. When the SOE learn that Boekman is still alive, and that his estranged son, Harry, is on the ground fighting in Market Garden, Harry is tasked with organizing a small commando unit to rescue Boekman and try to escape through the German siege. The Battle of Arnhem unfolds day by day as father and son search for each other amidst the chaos of war and the dogged pursuits of a cruel Gestapo agent.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
John Hewson is a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent stranded in Holland. He’s trying to smuggle critical intelligence to the Allies, but the country is crawling with Nazis. However, when Operation Market Garden roars upon Holland, the military strike might just provide Hewson the opportunity he needs to escape.
The Flutist of Arnhem is a combination spy thriller and war story with a long-lost father/son element thrown in to tie the parts together. For the espionage part, we follow John Hewson, a lone SOE agent in possession of key information about German military units. He’s eluded German counterintelligence so far, but a determined Gestapo agent is closing in on him. For the war portion, we follow John’s son Harry, a fresh recruit who gets his first taste of combat when he parachutes into Holland during Operation Market Garden.
Like many World War II tales, The Flutist of Arnhem depicts a new soldier’s shock and horror as Harry confronts the chaotic carnage of the battlefield. Gil does an excellent job illustrating rural and urban settings; artillery fire and explosions; and light and shadow effects in nighttime scenes. Unfortunately, his character designs leave something to be desired. When in uniform, his characters all look the same, and it’s difficult to tell what happens to whom. In one scene, two officers had red berets and dark mustaches as their only distinguishing features, so I constantly got them mixed up. On top of that, faces are not very expressive. Harry in particular seems to wear the same slightly depressed look throughout the book.
Harry’s knowledge of the operation is limited to his assignment, so the story includes a couple of conversations between Montgomery and Eisenhower that explain their plan and objectives. Then once the operation is underway, the narrative occasionally inserts an omniscient overview of the battle as a whole.
Unfortunately, the manner in which Gil conveys information is nothing short of a dense data dump. I have a casual familiarity with World War II. Meaning I’d heard of Operation Market Garden and only knew it was a failed Allied initiative. I don’t have a background on military vehicles, weapons, Dutch geography, or German military titles. As a result, I often got lost in a sea of place names, terminology, and acronyms. The graphic novel includes three maps, but the units and places mentioned in the narrative are buried amid a bunch of other names and information. One map is a two-page spread, and unfortunately, some of the words got caught in the binding. One scene actually has Montgomery and Eisenhower strategizing over a map, but Gil fails to depict their interaction with the map in a way that would elucidate uninformed readers. For the Arnhem portion, I really could have used a map that clarified the movements of our characters, but the one provided only focuses on the positions of military units.
Gil has clearly done his research, and if you’re well-versed in Operation Market Garden, you’ll probably appreciate it. However, if you’re a newbie seeking to learn about the expedition, this is not the book to start with. There’s no glossary, and the only footnotes deal with foreign language translations. Oddly, German dialogue is presented as English text within brackets (although they preserve German military titles, which often put my brain into a twist), but Polish dialogue is presented in Polish with translations in boxed text within the panel.
In terms of the Hewson family drama, it’s obvious from the moment Harry picks up the flute and says, “My dad used to play a special melody for us,” that the two Hewsons will reunite through that melody. The main question is how, and that’s where Corporal Kolecki gets introduced.
Multilingual, resourceful, and quick-witted, the Polish specialist gets recruited to help Harry and Harry’s commander retrieve John from behind enemy lines. For me, he was the most interesting character in the story. Unlike Harry, who’s stuck in a perpetual shellshocked daze, or John, who’s simply scampering from one hideout to the next, Kolecki seeks out opportunities and seizes them with effective results. And while Harry’s commander praises Harry as a hero at the close of the story, Kolecki deserves a lot more credit for getting their team out of more than one pinch.
By the way, aside from nameless faces in civilian crowds, the cast only includes two women. One serves only as a pretty young thing for Harry to pine over when he gets shipped out. The other only serves as a pretty young thing to bail John out when he gets into a life or death pinch. In other words, this narrative is definitely a male-centric one.
Extras include the melody that Harry was playing.
In Summary
If you’re a World War II nerd, the dramatized version of Operation Market Garden in The Flutist of Arnhem has a lot to offer. In addition to the broader scope of military engagement, it includes lots of interesting details on both Nazi and Allied sides. However, those unfamiliar with World War II will likely get confused by geographical references and military lingo. As for the espionage portion, it’s got good tension, but that aspect gets overshadowed by the war narrative. And as a family drama, it is predictable and falls flat.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dead Reckoning
Release Date: April 12th, 2021
MSRP: $24.95
