Rebels #2 Review

Written by: Brian Wood

Art by: Andrea Mutti

Publisher: Dark Horse

Rebels #2 picked up the pace a bit this month after the initial issue’s necessary, yet plodding, introduction of characters and historical timelines. Seth is becoming a more integral part of Ethan Allen’s militia while also trying to be a newlywed, homeowner, and partner to Mercy.

Wood does a nice job of revealing more of Seth and Mercy’s relationship in this issue, something I thought was lacking in the first one. Mercy is a beautiful young bride to be sure, but otherwise their marriage seemed like one of convenience for both the story and themselves. The swimming scene in Issue 2 goes a long way towards rectifying that. Mercy is doing her best on the homestead while Seth is making some hard choices for the good of not only Vermont, but the future nation as well. Unfortunately, the dialogue here came across as a bit hokey, and while the sentiments are admirable, it’s a tad heavy-handed:

Wood’s narration stumbles under the weight of carrying the storyline as well. The problem with historical fiction, regardless of medium, is that the story has to be good enough to survive without the setting and the reader must be trusted to understand character motivations within context. Rebels can, too often, feel like a flimsy history lesson centered around a character who is, thus far, less than interesting. Seth had a father, they didn’t talk much; Seth has/had some sort of stutter, and now…his father is dead, he’s joined a militia, and he married the put-upon damsel who almost lost her family’s land.

Luckily, Rebels does feature a killer artist whom I was not familiar with before this series. Mutti effortlessly blends nature and man, native with colonist, and violence with peace in ways that make the world seem wholly original and unlike anything currently on the stands. The ending action sequence is a great example of Mutti’s ability to quickly alter between stealth and sudden violence in a way that makes you feel as if you were in the canoe with the rest of the Green Mountain Boys.

This issue’s cliffhanger makes me want to read Issue 3, but I really want to know more about these characters and their motivations instead of relying solely on captions and historical records printed elsewhere. Rebels is another great concept put forth by Wood, but next month I’m looking forward to moving past the “elevator pitch” and into a story that I can relate to and perhaps learn from as well. As a miniseries, this might be a fine position to be in, but if Rebels is to truly be an ongoing series, then we need more characters to root for—not simply one man who serves as a curator of historical knowledge and little else.