Review by C.J. Bunce
Legion M and Stranger Comics have come together to tell the story of Congressman Robert Smalls, an enslaved man who commandeered a Confederate ship full of weapons to take his family to freedom during the Civil War. Available for pre-order now here at Amazon, Defiant – The Story of Robert Smalls tells the first of four chapters of Smalls’ impact on America. Writer Rob Edwards (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Princess and the Frog) delivers the story as a first person account, with an aged Smalls telling his life story to his grandson.
A project that began began as a Kickstarter campaign, this hardcover volume collects the first four of twelve issues of the story. Artists Nikolas Draper-Ivey (Static: Shadows of Dakota) and Ray-Anthony Height (Star Wars: Doctor Aphra) pull no punches conveying a straightforward historical account of Smalls from his parents’ circumstances to his birth in 1839 to being owned by a plantation owner as a “quasi-slave” to rebelling against his mother and owner when they tried to make him compliant. That’s just the first chapter.
Smalls as a young man takes charge of his future as best as he can, meets his future wife and negotiates over time for his and her freedom. Next he takes a job on the Planter, a steamship that would change his life and have an impact on the course of the war.
His challenge was great: To gain the trust of his crewmates, coordinate with a small number of families willing to risk their lives, learn the code for passing Confederate checkpoints, select the right time to steal the ship, and upon making it to the Union Blockade, figure out how not to get destroyed by Northern cannonballs and surrender the ship. His action would become the largest seizure of weapons during the entire war.
Smalls’ future as a Congressman and his career path are saved for future volumes of the series. But this first book has all the excitement that it sounds like, with the story that set his path as a free man in motion.
An action-filled start to an important piece of history, Defiant – The Story of Robert Smalls is available in hardcover for pre-order now here at Amazon, or order a copy from Elite Comics or your local comic shop. It’s also available direct from the publisher here.
