A story about Peter Usinov and David Niven's time in World War II. The framing sequence set during Death on the Nile and just the storytelling in general made this hard to follow. It's also incredibly short even for a European comic. Harambat's terrible art also made this a chore to read. I pretty much hated everything about it.

A charmingly illustrated introduction to a four volume WWII story inspired by David Niven and Peter Ustinov's actual roles in the British military of the time. Jean Harambat's art is slightly less realistic that one would normally expect of a war story, but it works to create a sense of something somewhat reality-adjacent rather than a pure piece of history - which is perfect for a story about an operation that has deception as a goal.
The dialogue is less strong, and it's difficult to be certain if that's due to Harambat's original dialogue or the translation. The lettering also seemed lighter than it should have been, but as I read an eARC via NetGalley, it's possible that will have been changed for the final release.

A quite pathetically slender quarter of a story about how the British stars of Hollywood fought back against Hitler. Artwork is mediocre, script isn't much better, but it's the fact this is such a flimsy thing, such a slender portion of a novel, that means I can't recommend it. All four parts in one might lead to something, but forking out quadruply for this doesn't seem at all worth it after this meagre evidence. One and a half stars as a purchase.

This graphic novel was just okay. I liked the art style of it. It was cute and quirky, but this was just too short for me to really get invested in this story and really doesn't make me want to continue reading this story. Overall, just okay.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

Copperhead - adventure, drama, secret, even a dash of romance.

I thank Net Galley and Europe Comics for providing me with a copy for review. The graphic novel Operation Copperhead Chapter 1 is by Jean Harambat who is the author and also the Illustrator. The story is that a girl serving tea in the set of Death on the Nile, asks Niven and Ustinov, how long they know each other. And Peter Ustinov tells her that, they were known to each other since Copperhead. And the girl questions them about what is the meaning of Copperhead? Both Niven and Ustinov elaborate the story.

In actual life, Niven and Ustinov served the British Army. Ustinov as private later Batman to Niven, while he was working with Army Film and photographic unit for the morale-building film. Niven had a minor part in the deception operation. The graphic novel is based on this fact of these two actors.

The story is told in flashbacks and the author has intelligently used anecdotes from biographies of Niven (The Moon's a Balloon) and Ustinov (Dear Me), blurring the fiction. Another example is the private talk of Niven with Winston Churchill.

The artwork is not bad in some frames it is outstanding. I had difficulty in reading some frames as the font is thin and narrow.

An ok graphic novel. This installment was too short in the sense that we only just get to the nitty gritty of the plot and it stops.

I didn't like the font and found it difficult on my eyes but there was good use of colour.

I liked the use of quotes from Ustinov and Niven's autobiographies - helped blend in real life to the tale.

I enjoyed this short graphic novel. It left me wanting more...

The graphics had a lot of charm and although I liked the font I did struggle to read it at times. A bolder version may make it more legible.

I loved the merging of the film set with the copperhead story as well as the quotes from the autobiographies. I nice idea!

It is World War II and David Niven and Peter Ustinov are to make a film for the war effort. This is done as a graphic story which I did not realize when I decided to look at it.

I hate to say it, but this may be one of the single most BORING things I've ever read.

I'm not sure if it's just that it was too short to really establish a background for the characters, making it hard to invest myself in their story. For something SO short, I really struggled to get through the story and twice contemplated DNFing it - something which I don't do lightly.

The artwork was fun, but everything else just came across as dull to me.

Overall, this was just a miss.

'Operation Copperhead' with words and art by Jean Harambat is a graphic novel based on a true story about what two actors did during World War II.

Using the filming of 'Death On The Nile' in 1977 as a framing story, we find David Niven and Peter Ustinov reminiscing about the strange role they played in World War II. Ustinov as a sniper and Niven was doing recruiting tours using his fame as an actor. They get recruited to make a different kind of movie about army life, but the real reason only starts to come to light at the end of the book. They are to recruit someone who looks like an officer in an intelligence campaign to throw the Germans off.

I liked this story with its mix of comics and quotes from real life. The characters seem true to what I remember. The art style is kind of cartoony, but fits the story really well. Now I have to find the other parts so I know what happened!

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy free via Netgalley.

David Niven and Peter Ustinov are know for the their film roles, including their work on Christie adaptions. But they also worked for the UK in the Second World War. This graphic novel chronicles those exploits in part, though as the introduction notes, it might not all be true.

The artwork is especially good, both actors are well drawn and there is humor in particular when it comes to filming Death on the Nile. There is a really panel with a camel that is quite funny.

However, what really sells the comic is the use of both Niven’s and Ustinov’s actual memoirs and auto biographies. It makes the graphic novel more historical and informative than the cover would suggest.


The speech patterns of both Niven and Ustinov are caught well by the writer. Considering the amount of moves that are dedicated to young Americans fighting the Germans and the Japanese during the Second World War, it is refreshing to read a story about older men who contribute in ways that are not as flashy but are perhaps just as, if not more, important.

This was a cute graphic novel with plenty of information for you to understand the plot and the story.
The 2 men are telling the story of how they met and how they have stayed friends since the war.
I havent seen many graphic novels about ww2 so this was something different for me to read.
It was funny and heartwarming in times that were difficult.
The only thing to criticise is it wasn't long enough for me.

This is an interesting beginning of a longer graphic novel about David Niven and Peter Ustinov and a war time plan to trick the Nazis into thinking that Gen. Montgomery is planning to evade Europe from the South.

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This whole first volume is a set up, however, and we dont' even begin to get to what, I presume, is the heart of the story.

This graphic novel is based on facts, but then apparently deviates from there.

Hard to say if once we get into volume 2, if things will pick up and we will get to the meat of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I could not find anything to dislike about this historical graphic novel. The author makes wonderful use of text and images to tell the story. Liked it!

A perfect themed idea for a comic book.
Initially set in the 1970’s on location in Egypt for Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. Splendid artwork a colouration had me hooked from the start. And there is Poirot looking more like Peter Ustinov but wait it is the great actor and playing opposite him is David Niven.
In the bar they reminisce on an early meeting and Operational Copperhead is that story, albeit just the first instalment here of their wartime exploits.
It has a sense of time and place and the narrative has humour and a nod to these war years.
The mark of a good story is the creative aspect where fact can blur into fiction and become or the more memorable.
Deception is a key inference in plot development of this story as it is in the creation of these characters, real people and then beyond reality.
The author writes: “Nothing in these pages is entirely true, but neither is everything enticing false.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This is a very, very short little book, even considering it is just the first issue in a graphic series. I really wish that there had been time for more of a background on the characters, and as soon as it ended I was just beginning to want more (which is maybe a good thing?)
I definitely would recommend picking this story up in volumes as opposed to issues, because there isn't much to work with here. I was provided the first issue via the publishers and NetGalley. However, I do love the art style and the decision to incorporate excerpts from real newspapers and the autobiographies of the characters, as this is based on a true story.
And finally, the story itself is very unique and interesting. There are so many stories from the WWII era (and they are all important and deserve to be told) but this was one I had never heard about before. If the subject matter is interesting to you, I would recommend picking up the first volume.

This is not a great beginning to a series based on real events. I think, unless you are a true WWII buff or a great fan of British Military history this will not introduce enough of the story to get anyone to be really interested in continuing. Basically a British actor was recruited to pretend to be a prominent General, and appear at a variety of casual locations, hoping this would fool the Germans into thinking that if the General was cold chilling they were all safe, while the real General was planning a big invasion.
The character design is cute, and there are cameos from some top celebrities of the time, including Bette Davis and Winston Churchill, but it's too brief a glimpse to create real interest.