Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie
Brian Anderson, Rob Leigh
Published by Ghost Machine /
Image Comics
When I was in Junior High School back in the early 1970s, I wrote a short story in which the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was not what it seemed. In my version, Lincoln was a would-be-dictator from the far future and John Wilkes Booth was actually the hero, the time agent determined to save the timeline at any cost.
Even though I wrote it myself, this was my first exposure to the type of alternate histories that would become popular in science-fiction and fantasy novels in later years. While that trend isn’t as omnipresent as it once was, it’s still around, and here, in Geoff Johns’ new graphic novel, Redcoat, we find the latest example.
Redcoat is the story of Simon Pure (seriously), who we meet as a cowardly British soldier during the American Revolution. The reader realizes that this is not going to be any kind of standard historical fiction when General George Washington is seemingly killed.
Things happen quickly after that and we learn that “The Founding Fathers” is more than just a name here. We find Benjamin Franklin trussed up by men in cultish robes, willingly allowing himself to be subjected to some sort of weird ritual.
Franklin’s expectations are met with disappointment when Simon, on the run, stumbles in at the exact wrong moment and becomes the recipient of the magical energy himself. He doesn’t know what’s happened at that moment, but going forward, he realizes that he’s now immortal.
From that point, we essentially begin kind of a twisted retelling of ̶N̶e̶i̶l̶ ̶G̶a̶i̶m̶a̶n̶’s classic Hob Gadling story, only without the presence of Dream. We follow Simon into his future, albeit with flashbacks. For unexplained reasons, he continues to wear his British army uniform. While we’re told he’s made enemies. killed a few men, and has never handled women well, we find out precious little of what he actually has been up to all hose years.
The main story finds our hero (?) in 1892, more than a century after he achieved immortality. This is where we find out more about who Washington really was in this alternate reality. We also meet another immortal, Benedict Arnold (or Benedict Armistice, as he’s now known). Perhaps most intriguing is that Simon picks up a young sidekick in the person of young genius Albert Einstein, here still just a German child who can barely speak English. Young Albert, who will become the archetypal scientist, is here more interested in the magic behind what’s been going on with Simon.
Turns out there are others equally interested, and planning to use that magic, and Simon, to remake the world into their own image.
Johns has been a top-notch mainstream superhero creator for decades now, and that all carries over into Redcoat. Artist Bryan Hitch, too, has wowed me over the years with his superhero storytelling. Here, teamed with Andrew Currie and Brad Anderson on inks and colors, Hitch offers up solid, mature storytelling. Nothing fancy or crazy, just highly attractive, easy to follow comics art. Bryan also gets the lion’s share of the images in the Cover Gallery at the back of the book, too, although my favorite one comes from German Peralta.
Simon Pure is certainly a fascinating, likable rogue, and his unique situation allows itself for many unusual possibilities as far as future stories. While he doesn’t travel in time, he exists in many times, and thus we could see him in stories over the course of 250 years, or even beyond, into the future. Redcoat is not only an enjoyable graphic novel, but a very clever premise, too.
Booksteve recommends.
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