Rebels #1 (Dark Horse)

Rating: 5/5 – A Thrilling Account of America’s First Militia; Live Free Or Die!
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall

I love historical fiction.  That made me an easy mark for this new series from writer Brian Wood and artist Andrea Mutti.  That said, love for a genre won’t make me like something that isn’t created with a sense of realism, quality, and an amazing attention to detail.  Rebels has all three of these in abundance.  I learned a number of facts about what had been going on in this time and place while being entertained by the fictionalized account of Seth Abbott and the beginnings of the American Revolution on a front I had not explored before, Vermont of 1775.

This could end up being my favorite thing Brian Wood has written, which is no mean feat given his comics resume.  Wood traces America’s first Militia, The Green Mountain Boys, and while I’ve heard of them before, I never did any in depth studying of them, so the topic was fascinating to start.  Where ‘Rebels’ transcended a simple historical retelling for me was in how Wood made the characters and settings feel so genuine and real, they came to life for me in a very simple down-to-earth way.  Andrea Mutti’s art was a perfect complement to Wood’s story.  Delicate inkwork perfectly delineating the characters and placing them in a world with just the right amount of background detail to give me that sense of place that I felt really captured the time period.

You should be putting in a reservation for your copy of this comic, hitting the stands on April 8th.  I think this series is going to be talked about and be winning awards in the years to come, you should get on board at the ground floor.  It’s a really entertaining read, beautiful to look at, and you might just learn some history along the way, what a deal!  Entertaining.  Enlightening.  Enrapturing.  Buy this book!

Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
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