Don't Tread on Me

The Sons of Liberty, Volume 1. Written by Alexander & Joseph Lagos with Art by Steve Walker and Oren Kramek
Graphic Novel Review by Kerey McKenna

This is the third in a series of Nerds who Read Graphic Novel Reviews dedicated to Black History Month.

Living most of my life in Massachusetts, I count myself lucky to have visited many locations crucial to the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States. As a fan of science fiction and fantasy, I have always been slightly disappointed by the lack of fantastical spins on our nation’s founding era. In American alternate history stories, the War of Independence trails a distant third to World War II and the Civil War for novels created out of “what if” scenarios and war gaming. A fascination with the historical old west has produced plenty or weird west tales and cowboy ghost stories. The demand for more steampunk is currently mining every buried lump of story potential from America’s industrial years. But it seems like fantastical takes on our founding are few and far between. Perhaps as other historical periods become overdone though, more creators will find fertile ground in this era of rebellion. The Assassin’s Creed 3 video game and several of its spinoffs were set against the backdrop of the American Revolution, and Fox’s supernatural action show Sleepy Hollow re-imagines Washington Irving’s hapless schoolteacher as a swashbuckling spy charged with preventing the British from winning the war through dark magic.

I was hoping that The Sons of Liberty would offer something new to the historical fantasy and comic superhero genre by setting its action in the years leading up to the American Revolution, but I found the execution somewhat lacking.

The story begins promisingly enough in 1776 with a raid on a loyalist compound by two mysterious figures. Their faces are obscured by tri-corn hats and black masks but their eyes crackle with electric sparks and they demonstrate agility and strength far beyond those of mortal men. However before we can begin what the narrator assures will be an epic battle…the rest of the book is a flashback/origin story for our mysterious heroes. Winding the narrative back several years the story takes us to the plight of Graham and Brody, run-away slaves in colonial-era Pennsylvania who fall into the clutches of William Franklin, evil bastard son of Benjamin Franklin. For the story the bastard William (yes he was actually a bastard, but Benjamin ‘recognized him’ as a son and helped advance his career in the British colonial civil service) has been upgraded to a mustache-twirling villain. Perverting the studies of electricity performed by his father, William not only electrocutes every barnyard animal he can get his hands on, but also snatches up the fugitive boys to use in his in-human experiments. Electrocuted and left for dead, the boys are discovered by Benjamin Franklin and the abolitionist dwarf Benjamin Lay. They hide with the hermit Lay, who instructs them in the African martial art of Dambe (Lay having been upgraded to abolitionist Yoda). They also discover that the Bastard Franklin’s experiments have granted them extraordinary powers, the implication being that Graham and Brody will one day become the dynamic duo we saw in the action cold open. Despite using their powers to get revenge on their former master and his slave hunter, the boys are shunned and feared by their peers due to their unnatural powers and the very real concern that they will all be killed in the ensuing retaliation to any perceived slave rebellion.

There is a lot of promise in this book, but I felt like it was hampered by pacing issues and peculiarities in the artwork. This first volume carries a heavy burden of world building, introducing the audience to pre-revolution America, the horrors of the slave trade, the early abolitionist movement, and Benjamin Franklin’s relationship with his evil bastard son.

The narrative foot-dragging in getting to the supernatural and alternate history elements isn’t aided by the uneven art. Steve Walker’s drawings work well in creating coherent action scenes (such as the boys escaping vicious hunting dogs that have been sent to track them down), but sometimes his work on faces and anatomy doesn’t quite pull together. Often enough when the faces slip into the uncanny valley this may be because the colorization used by Oren Kramek suggests that the whole art team is learning as they go; sometimes the colors work and in other panels they clash in such a way that it is hard for the eye to follow.

All that being said, the book never falls completely flat and superhero franchises have been launched on much shakier first installments than this one. As I said, it appears that the art team may be learning on the job, but they do appear to be improving. While not my top recommendation, it may be something to throw the way of a reader (particularly a young adult or tween) that needs a little nudge from action and science fiction to get more interested in history. If I come across it, I may pick up the second volume, Death & Taxes, to see if the rough edges have smoothed out.

Kerey McKenna is a contributing reviewer to Nerds who Read and SMOF for the annual Watch City Steampunk Festival, coming to Waltham, Massachusetts on May 7, 2016. Learn more at www.watchcityfestival.com.