"Fight hard. Shoot straight. Don't let them take you alive."
— Blurb, Sara
Sara is a graphic novel by Garth Ennis following a sniper at the Siege of Leningrad, 1942; while fighting, she has to confront her demons as well as the threats on the Eastern Front. A single mistake may prove to be her undoing.
The graphic novel was published in December 2018 as one of Ennis' many war comics.
Sara contains examples of:
- Anyone Can Die: Given that it's a war story, it's very justified.
- Bittersweet Ending: Although 'Rina, Vera and Lydi have bright futures ahead of them ([[spoiler:maybe), Nata, Mari, Darya and Sara are all dead.
- Blood Knight: Vera - notable for asking why anyone would want the war to end.
- Booby Trap: Sara often rigs the bodies of those she's killed with grenades. She uses this as she's dying to take the second sniper with her.
- Boom, Headshot!: Sara pulls this off towards the end of the graphic novel. The elite Nazi sniper is also known for this.
- Break the Cutie: Sara herself in training days, having first found out that her parents were killed by a German airborne unit and later discovering that they were executed after failing a test of loyalty. Lydi arguably fits this trope as well, although we don't see the aftermath.
- Commissar Cap: Commissar Kovalenko has one.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Sara, as she's dying.
- Death from Above: Mari and Nata both get bombed, although they're shown making a Last Stand a few pages later.
- Death Is Dramatic: Deaths in this work usually get large panels or pages to themselves.
- Did Not Die That Way: Sara's parents were killed by the NKVD for opening the door for what they believed to be paratroopers, not an airborne unit.
- Dwindling Party: From seven snipers to three over the course of the work.
- Fate Worse than Death: Implied to be what happens if they're taken alive. Given the Real Life context, this is Truth in Television.
- Grim Up North: Set in Russia in December.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Sara has one hundred kills as a conservative estimate. Given that this is a work about snipers, the comic practically bleeds this trope.
- Last Stand: Subverted at first in that they actually win. Later both Mari and Nata do this when outnumbered in battle, followed by a Taking You with Me.
- Nicknaming the Enemy: The Nazi soldiers are called "Fritzies". They, in turn, call the Russian snipers "Ivan".
- Not So Stoic: Sara, when telling 'Rina, Vera and Lydi the truth about what happened to her parents.
- Oh, Crap!: Sara's realisation that she forgot about the second sniper.
- Snow Means Death: Being winter, all of the deaths happen in the snow.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Vera is considered a monster by the others, but the monster they need. After seeing a German prisoner with a picture of his mother, she spends some time detailing exactly what they're going to do to his dear old mother once they reach Berlin.
- Stand Your Ground: The implicit order within the battle at the infantry post. It ends in victory for them.
-
Stoic Woobie: Sara. She lost her parents in what she was told was a raid but later learns was punishment for failing a test of loyalty. - Taking You with Me: Mari, Nata and Sara all do this with grenades.
- Tranquil Fury : Vera on the battlefield after Darya is killed. It doesn't last long.
- Vengeance Denied: Vera swears revenge on the elite sniper for killing her sniping partner, Darya, but Sara kills him first.
- War Is Hell: The central theme of the story. There are multiple onscreen deaths, including Sara herself.
- White Shirt of Death: Most characters wear white coats on missions - ergo, most of the deaths happen in white.
- Winter Warfare: Takes place on the Eastern Front in World War II in December.
