Let’s face it, friends, sometimes comics are cheesy.  Sometimes a good idea gets stretched into an ongoing series.  Sometimes…the ghost of a confederate soldier possesses a WWII tank and helps the allies crush the Nazis!  Such was the plot of the original Haunted Tank, and the comic (which began in the early 1960s and ended in the early 1980s) is about to get an update.

I got a chance to check out Vertigo’s first issue of the Haunted Tank redux, titled “Shock and Awesome.” The story this time around involves that same old cantankerous confederate, J.E.B. Stuart, as he comes to the rescue of a group of soldiers in Iraq.  The year is 2003, the desert sun beats down hard on the troops, and as the crew gets ambushed by (slightly stereotyped) Iraqi insurgents, the good ghost steps in to help, guns and swords a-blazin’!  Stuart has again been sent down from above to protect his namesake, but this time there’s a catch for the old southern belle – his descendent is Sgt. Jamal Stuart, an African-American soldier.

Author Frank Marraffino (The Dark Goodbye) does a good job at playing up the racial tension between Jeb and Jamal, and hopefully he’ll continue to press this aspect.  The portrayal of the Iraqis in this first issue borders on the sometimes silly, but hopefully Marraffino won’t take the easy road and paint them as unintelligent throughout.  The action is huge, grand, overblown and blaring, with huge explosions and Jeb cleaving heads.  The artwork by Henry Flint (2000 AD), from the draft I could see, looks solid, detailed, and precise.  The comic feels tightly packed, with a lot of action happening on every page, but it doesn’t feel crammed.  All in all Haunted Tank serves up a good amount of ghostly action, and while I was skeptical at first, I think I’ll be following the series for a few more issues.  Haunted Tank hits comic shops tomorrow, December 3rd, and should retail for $2.99.  All right, Vertigo, now let’s see that Haunted Tank/Gentleman Ghost crossover I’ve been waiting for all my life, okay?