Rebels #1
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 8, 2015
Cover Price: $3.99
Historical fiction is an interesting thing. The genre itself seems like an oxymoron. Is its aim to tell accurate, honest stories of old? Or, is it intended to tell new, human stories in a time and place that has already gone by?
Brian Wood and Andrea Mutti’s new Dark Horse series, Rebels set in 1775 America, on the edge of revolution says historical fiction is somewhere between the two. They take advantage of the opportunity to tell human stories, maybe informed by our modern times, in a world that existed and was very much real, populated by real people and recorded fights about land, freedom, love and humanity. A world that in a way, still exists.
Normally, I bemoan heavy-handed exposition in first issues but Seth’s story, written by Wood and brought to life by Mutti reads and, looks like, a diary brought to life. It’s gritty, sketchy, clear and muddled all at once. Sometimes, even on the same page. It effectively imitates the duality of one man in this exact time and place, a man who wants to protect his home but also doesn’t want to see it decimated by war, even if he never existed.
There’s little in the way of adding depth to any of the characters just yet and there’s some missteps in narrative clarity but that is because, for all intents and purposes, this is Seth’s story as told by Seth and Wood and Mutti seem set on letting this story, his story, play out through his eyes it seems.
It’s the kind of steadfast dedication to a specific execution that can either make or break a first issue. This time, it works wonderfully for the most part.
This first issue is just a stepping stone but it’s a carefully crafted one. Everything we know about Seth and America and Britain and war and peace and violence and humanity from this first issue will be expanded in the coming ones, I have no doubt.
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 8, 2015
Cover Price: $3.99
Historical fiction is an interesting thing. The genre itself seems like an oxymoron. Is its aim to tell accurate, honest stories of old? Or, is it intended to tell new, human stories in a time and place that has already gone by?
Brian Wood and Andrea Mutti’s new Dark Horse series, Rebels set in 1775 America, on the edge of revolution says historical fiction is somewhere between the two. They take advantage of the opportunity to tell human stories, maybe informed by our modern times, in a world that existed and was very much real, populated by real people and recorded fights about land, freedom, love and humanity. A world that in a way, still exists.
Normally, I bemoan heavy-handed exposition in first issues but Seth’s story, written by Wood and brought to life by Mutti reads and, looks like, a diary brought to life. It’s gritty, sketchy, clear and muddled all at once. Sometimes, even on the same page. It effectively imitates the duality of one man in this exact time and place, a man who wants to protect his home but also doesn’t want to see it decimated by war, even if he never existed.
There’s little in the way of adding depth to any of the characters just yet and there’s some missteps in narrative clarity but that is because, for all intents and purposes, this is Seth’s story as told by Seth and Wood and Mutti seem set on letting this story, his story, play out through his eyes it seems.
It’s the kind of steadfast dedication to a specific execution that can either make or break a first issue. This time, it works wonderfully for the most part.
This first issue is just a stepping stone but it’s a carefully crafted one. Everything we know about Seth and America and Britain and war and peace and violence and humanity from this first issue will be expanded in the coming ones, I have no doubt.
A Look Inside
