Graphic Novel
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Steven Sanders
Publisher: Image
Price: $12.95
I’ll start the ranting up front:
BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!
This graphic novel from Fraction and Sanders, originally coming from Planetlar/AIT and now published through Image, is irreverent historical adventure with cast members ranging from Mark Twain to Thomas Edison with Marconi thrown in for good measure.
The most obvious thing to compare this to is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because that is the book or film that most people associate with Steampunk/Victoriana. However all the characters in this book were real. The book starts with character histories, which helps establish who these people really were, but also includes apologies for how they are portrayed in the story. This works well as not only is it informative, but also endears the reader to the whole concept so you are much more likely to enjoy the ride.
Fraction describes the story thus: “The Five Fists of Science is the story of Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla teaming up to bring about world peace by compulsion- and how that peace will interfere with the plans of an evil science cabal led by Thomas Edison. An all-out war between magic and science is fought on the streets of New York City in 1899, and it is an absolutely true story, up to a point.”
Up to a point is generous to a fault, but you will not mind at all. Twain is our focus character and he’s charming, witty and a lying b*st*rd, but at no point in the proceedings will you not want to spend time with him. Tesla is wonderfully strange and it’s brilliant that his idiosyncrasies were real - this guy was weirder than Bruce Wayne would be if he was real.
The book would not be half as successful without Steven Sanders’ artwork. He effortlessly portrays urban cityscapes and snow covered mountains, switching between bombastic action sequences and intimate character moments without any problems of flow. I had not encountered his work before, but based on this I will be looking at picking up everything he does.
If there is a fault with the book it is that a sequel looks unlikely. You still want to spend more time with these characters at the end and based on his portrayal in this I am looking for biographies and other books on Tesla. I cannot stress how good this book is and what a joy it was to read. Matt Fraction is launching a new series from Image called Casanova shortly which would seem to share the same deftness of touch and action that is so successful here. He is also going to be working on the new Punisher: War Journal series, though how the humour will work there is anyone’s guess.
Matt Fraction’s website can be found here.
A preview of the Graphic Novel can be found here.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist.
He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for Fractal Matter.