Review: Rebels: These Free and Independent States

Rebels: These Free and Independent States

Written by: Brian Wood
Art by: Andrea Mutti, Luca Casalanguida, Joan Urgell.
Colors: Lauren Affe
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Matt Taylor

200 pages
Published by Dark Horse

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Two times in my life I was visiting in Boston and walked along the decks of the oldest registered fighting sea vessel in the US Navy: The USS Constitution. Years before I put together an (unfinished) model of the ship.

Back in the day of cannons and shot the object of damaging or wounding the crew of your enemy vessel was to splinter the hull with sharp shards of wood splinters that would fly out when a cannon ball would come crashing through. As wealth and power in the world defrayed to control of the open seas in the time of America's Revolution ships became outfitted with more cannons and less cargo space. Some vessels, like the Constitution, were pure fighting ships, meant to defend us from or warn off attackers.

The Constitution changed all that.

The Boy's been up to something.

It's the story of The Constitution's chief architect and builder John Abbott, a self-taught boy who dreamed up a ship with a 12 inch thick oaken hull. They nicknamed the ship 'Old Ironsides' because cannon balls would simply 'bounce off' the hull. (Mom notices his sketches.)

John Abbott is the main driving force in the narrative. Like the newly formed United States of America in the late 1700s early 1800s John has to stretch out his muscles and test his abilities against the challenges and tribulations that confront him. There's John, a slave friend Judge Freeman and girlfriend Alice who form a bond of friendship as the ship gets built, and John goes to war.

Their story ends about page 140, where a new one shoots up about two siblings Charlie and Rachel who have lost their parents. They try to defend their farm from the British Soldiers (we're back in the 1770s now). They discover a sunken ship with a cache of gold bars which they use to help General George Washington finance the army and keep fighting. There's another story about the 'Green Mountain Boys' who form their own battalion to help fight the war.

The artwork is beautiful, and in spite of having three main artists there isn't as much of a 'jump' you get when a new hand enters the story. That's helped by the gorgeous coloring throughout by one artist, Lauren Affe. She manages to keep the palette on topic and drives the story forward.

Story-wise it left me feeling unfulfilled. It's more of a travelogue and accounting of facts rather than getting thrown in an adventure, which was what I was hoping for. (The last chapter with the brother and sister were more like that though). Brian Wood also wrote Briggs Land, which I've read, and I've noticed his style is very slow, uneventful, factual and dry. His style's rather like that old Jack Webb cop show Dragnet from the 1960s.

So, I am of a split mind whether to recommend this book. The artwork is fantastic. In all its 200 pages there's not one 'iffy' scene or an obvious sign that the artist was rushed and 'mailed it in'. The writing? Meh.

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