Book Chop: The Sons of Liberty #1 (with interview!)

Title: The Sons of Liberty #1
Authors: Alexander and Joseph Lagos
Artists: Steve Walker and Oren Kramek
Genre: Graphic Novel, Historical fiction/fantasy
Verdict: I've read 40 books this year so far. 5 of them I've actually been excited about. This is the only one out of those 5 that wasn't a sequel. That ought to tell you something.

Hold on to your belts, people--this one's a kick in the pants.

I wish I could remember how I heard about this book, or stumbled across it. That initial moment of contact is just a blur in my mind because the concept alone had me chomping at the bit for more information. I bought the hardcover (WORTH IT) and read through the whole thing in one evening. Just...wow.

The Sons of Liberty is set in colonial America during the Revolutionary period. The main story centers on two runaway slaves named Graham (HOO-AH!) and Brody. After surviving a brutal electric experiment at the hands of Ben Franklin's son, they develop superpowers that enhance their strength, speed and coordination. Soon they get it in their heads to start fighting back against slave-owners in the name of liberty. Donning masks and practicing the African martial art of dambe, they become the Sons of Liberty.

The story was solid, the characters were unique and vivid, the research was thorough, and the artwork kept my eyes glued to the pages. Also to my pleasure, the dialogue was clean--no profanity was needed to "enhance" the emotions anywhere, and even the violent scenes were tastefully done.

The overall package was very impressive. I decided to check out their website and drop them an email. To my delight, they answered a handful of my questions, providing you readers with the very first GrahamChops interview. Enjoy!

1) So naturally, I'm curious: how'd you choose the names Graham and Brody for the main characters?

Alexander: Ha! Well, the name for our character, Graham, is the last name of a good friend of mine. He and his wife were incredibly kind and generous when I first came to New York—inviting me to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas when they realized I was going to be alone in my apartment. They were just wonderful, supportive friends, so I guess I felt compelled to honor their last name in our book. Plus, it’s just a cool name! Brody though came out of nowhere. The name just popped into my head. There is something sweet and innocent about it but at the same time strong.

2) Did you want to stage a novel in the American Revolution, or was it the fugitive-slave-angle that got you started on your story?

Alexander: THE SONS OF LIBERTY was actually born in a dream. In it, I was sitting in a movie theater and on the big screen were these two men wearing long coats, tri-corn hats and masks running and jumping over colonial rooftops. On the streets below were a large group of Redcoats chasing after the two masked men and firing their muskets trying to cut down them down. At one point, the two men leapt down from a building, landed in an alley way and removed their masks revealing they were two African American men. I woke up and could not believe what I had dreamt. I immediately went for pen and paper and scribbled “two runaway slaves become masked vigilantes during the American Revolution” I was instantly excited by the dream and worked on it for awhile developing the concept.

I realized very quickly it was a story too big and complicated to work on by myself so I phoned my brother. Growing up, Joseph was the writer in the family and very inspiring to me. He understood immediately how best to develop and write the story. The idea of two runaway slaves becoming masked vigilante superheroes during the Revolutionary war was so amazing to us it became and still is our everyday obsession.

3) How many volumes do you intend to write for Sons of Liberty?

Alexander: We are contracted for four books. But the story could easily run for many more.

4) How much research do you do? Does it involve an in-depth study of the historical figures, or do you just get the particulars and then adjust the characters as the story requires?

Alexander: Being as this is a superhero adventure we wanted it to be fun and action packed but once we started writing the story we realized we had a responsibility to capture the period as authentically as possible. We immersed ourselves in the learning process and got our hands on everything we could about Colonial America, the American Revolution, and slavery. We visited historical sites, went on walking tours, attended reenactments, and spoke to historians. We bought books on costumes, landscape, architecture and tools of the period. We researched language dialect to give conversations a more authentic feel. We watched films, documentaries and educational programs. We referenced maps and art from the period. So, yeah, we got into it! But it was amazing; we learned so much stuff that seems to have been overlooked by school history books.

5) Have you guys written any regular novels prior to Sons of Liberty? If so, what's different about writing the story for a graphic novel?

Alexander: This is our first book and first serious collaboration with each other. However we grew up creating, writing stories and drawing comics so this didn’t feel like too much of a leap for us. But the difference between writing a novel and a graphic novel is that GN’s are written in script format. The approach is almost identical to a script for a film--with scene description and character dialogue.

Joseph: One of the challenges of writing in the script format is communicating ideas in a concise way so that the artist and colorist can identify and develop the concept visually. It is always a thrill to see the unique spin the artists give the interpretation of the panels and how a little
bit of each of us goes into molding the final product.

6) Who are some other historical figures we can expect to see in future volumes?

Alexander: You can expect to see Crispus Attucks, John Lamb, Benjamin Banneker, John and Sam Adams and many surprises!

7) Do you have any personal background with dambe? How'd you choose that as the martial art for the story?

Joseph: We thought it would be interesting to find a martial art from the Lagos region of Nigeria.
Dambe, otherwise known as “Hausa boxing” was an ideal fit. Like everything else in this series, the more we researched the more we came to appreciate the complexity of this fascinating custom. Dambe has two important roles in the SOL series; it introduces Graham and Brody to a fighting system that offers focus and controls their new found abilities, while empowering them both physically and spiritually by providing a link to their African roots.

8) A lot of readers on GrahamChops are aspiring writers themselves, mostly with regular novels. What advice might you have for someone wanting to write a graphic novel?

Joseph: Have fun with it! When Alexander and I are working together, we try to inject the things we enjoy into the story and try to picture every panel in the script as a movie still. We pitch ideas back and forth and generally have a good time doing so. Developing a solid script is important, but so too is having fun.

9) How much involvement did the artists have after you wrote the story? Did you have to describe the setting in detail and work with them as they produced the artwork?

Alexander: The scripts are very detailed and provide a lot of reference information and if there
is something very specific we want to include we’ll shoot them e-mails with art/photo refs. I’ll draw rough sketches of the characters and costumes and provide that to our artist as well. But Steve is very good at doing his own on-line research for photo/art refs. Once, when I stopped by his studio, I was very impressed with this huge binder he filled with hundreds of pages of colonial architecture and costumes that he had printed out from his internet searches. Steve and Oren are serious professionals and a real joy to work with.

10) Last of all: how long were you all working on Sons of Liberty before it got picked up? Give us an idea of the timeline--from conception to execution to delivery. Tell us the story behind the story, if you will!

Alexander: It all started way back in 2001. Once Joseph and I had a clear understanding of the concept and basic storyline we started researching the period and comparing notes--discovering incredible lost facts about history that we knew we wanted to include in the story. Then we created historical and fictional outlines and drew up character sketches. The fact that we didn’t have a book deal and time just kept crawling by was actually a blessing in disguise. It allowed us time to fully learn about the period so that we could tell a rich and involving story.

In 2004, we set about putting together a proposal package that included the story, timelines, and some of my rough sketches. Then at the end of 2005 we decided to remake the proposal package and hired Steve Walker to re-draw my sketches and illustrate new character pin-ups. This was a far more polished and professional presentation. In the middle of 2006, we had a pretty solid draft and shared it with a friend of ours who connected us to a literary agent. She read it over a weekend and loved it.

In early 2007, we signed with the literary agency and it was just a matter of a few months before she sold it to Random House Publishing. By the middle of 2008 we had a completed and publisher accepted draft of book one and turned it over to the artist to begin the illustration stage. At this point Joseph and I were free to focus solely on book two. THE SONS OF LIBERTY book one was released this past May and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

There you have it. Thanks to the Lagos brothers and their publicist for providing me with this interview; I can't wait for book 2. This is one of few books that I'll be telling everyone about. In the meantime, you can purchase the book here on their website, and become a fan on Facebook here. (I'd encourage you to check out the photos section there--they've got a promo poster that I couldn't find anywhere else online, and it rocks.)

Keep 'em comin', gentlemen!