The Sons of Liberty (review)

Two of Master Sorenson's slaves, Brody and Graham, are on the run, and the only chance they have of avoiding slave catcher Cole Walker is to find their way to the cave of eccentric Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay. With the promise of assistance from Benjamin Franklin's slave, Peter, they almost make it, but they are purloined by Franklin's grown son, William, who lures the boys into a hut and uses them as subjects in his own experiments with electricity. When the elder Franklin finds them, they try to run, only to discover that they have gained superpowers that allow them to jump huge distances. Franklin conveys them to Lay, who recognizes that they are imbued with the West African warrior power of "dembe," and he takes on the position of teacher and mentor with an eye toward enlisting their powers in political struggle that looms on the colonial horizon. Purists who prefer their historical fiction heavy on, well, history will quickly realize they've wandered into strange territory in this graphic novel, with some fairly cheesy pop-culture tropes (masked-superheroes origin stories; Yoda-like sages) intruding into the lives of the Founders. Yet those who recognize the historical figures and their interpersonal dynamics will also be the readers who gain the most enjoyment from the Lagoses' clever interweaving of fact and alternative history. Walker's tidily black-bordered panels and sparingly deployed full-page bleeds successfully meld period detail and accurate caricature with comic-book-styled fight scenes and visual and sound effects. In lieu of printed notes, the authors direct readers to a website "to learn more about the book's facts, fictions, and conjectures," but at press time the site merely redirected to the publisher. A cliffhanger, which is ingeniously situated at the onset of the story, hints strongly at more entries to come; in the meantime, newly won fans can brush up on the Revolutionary War background.