A graphic novel set during the 1944 Allied invasion of Europe, in which British Special Operations agent Cora Brown maneuvers Pierre, the illegitimate son of Hitler, as a chess piece in an elaborate game to kill the führer.
Son of Hitler includes plenty of standard elements — hulking stormtroopers, beret-wearing Resistance fighters, car chases through the cobblestoned byways of Paris, a frosty female spy with a fabulous forties hairdo — but it also tweaks the usual formulas. If it's not quite as unruly as it could have been, its gung-ho spirit is consistently infectious ... The story rattles along at a vigorous pace, but it doesn't have as many twists and turns as it needs to sustain narrative urgency to the end. Fortunately, artist Jeff McComsey is on hand to bring action sequences to life and infuse some drama into the draggy parts ... McComsey's just not that interested in subtleties of expression. He models faces the same way he models a snarled bedsheet or a glass tumbler, playing up what's visually grabby. As with Del Col and Moore's story, there's a bit of a sense of opportunities lost. Even so, the opportunities the creators do take are plentiful, and they nail every one ... Their humanity is nicely balanced against the story's shocking elements. Son of Hitler may have its slow spots, but few war stories are this much fun.
Del Col and Moore’s story is packed with classic espionage-thriller turns, such as coded messages hidden in baked goods (though the madeleines Pierre bakes look nothing like the shell-shaped classic in the artwork), double-crossing agents, bloody shootouts, blackmail, and a rookie operative with a hair trigger, who fouls up the plan. McComsey’s luminous monochromatic artwork makes great use of highlight and shadow on his realistic figures, which only adds to the noirish atmosphere. Pierre’s story drags a bit in the middle, but a twist toward the end sends the story careering toward the conclusion, which takes a hearty swipe at contemporary American politics.
Despite its sensational concept, this is a solid historical thriller. Del Col and Moore generously pepper the plot with double (and triple) crosses. McComsey captures the period and its tension with expressive thick lines colored in dark, monochromatic shades and a consistent three-toned palette that distinctly separates the acts of the story ... With its intricate elaboration of secret service work and shocker of a last-act twist, this comic achieves the satisfying web-of-secrets allure that John le Carré and Len Deighton pull off in prose.
