1 out of 5

Dumb fun that starts to get *really* dumb, and then a third issue that reads like pages ripped from a random comic and scribbled over with swear words and violence.

I’ve been on the fence about Gischler since he started popping up in comics.  He seemed like one of those “gritty” writers who was a bit too keen to prove he was fit for that label.  But: he popped up on a Titan Comics series that, though I haven’t finished it, I sort of got the trashy pulp vibe he was going for and wasn’t displeased, and Forge seemed like it might provide a similar outlet.  In the credits, seeing “created by Donn D. Berdahl” – otherwise not a writer on the book – and some further ‘comic developed by,’ ‘original story by’ tags made me curious, and sure enough, Donn’s a Hollywood dude.  So either this is an aborted movie script or a pitch, or, maybe, possibly, Donn actually wanted to make a comic, but regardless – it’s a movie maker’s point of view.  Since the concept is that Ben Franklin, George Washington and Paul Revere get super powers, you can see how this could very easily be a converted script.  My skepticism about what I was to read started to go up.

But in the first ish, Gischler just sort of goes with it.  Our famous trio are drunken layabouts to a certain extent, and swear, and fight, and George strikes an Indian Totem after chopping down that cherry tree and is suddenly ‘cursed’ with the inability to lie and badass axe-fightin’ skills.  The pace of the book is *ridiculous* – there are like negative scene transitions, so from page to page we’ll jump gaps in time with no warning – and plot points (the bad guy wants to take over the world with a secret weapon!) – are made clear as easily read one-panel dialogue bubbles.  Again, though, Vic seemingly embraces the stupidity and makes it enjoyable, and Tazio Bettin’s art is grabbing – big, emotive characters, moody framing (reminiscent of David Lopez’s work on DC-era Fallen Angel); definitely deserving of more fleshed out material.  The second issue takes things down a notch, though, because the first issue’s focus on George was a nice anchor, and then we have to spread the superpowers out to the trio and ‘Lady Kate,’ the niece of the evil Lord Hammond, and it feels exactly like Hollywood overkill.  George has the extra winky-wink of the no-lying thing; others just get the powers… and Kate’s brawling skills would seem to be the same as George’s, essentially, sans axe, so the campy value is distilled a bit, and we’re still dealing with the “hit those plot points” pacing and dialogue.

And it all slams to an end in an atrocious third issue.  Was the series always three issues?  Based on how quickly Gischler runs us through a final battle and declaration of the four leads to fight-on in possible sequels, it seems like the series could’ve had some extra space that was edited out, requiring pages to be removed and condensed down to this final installment.  Bettin’s foreground work looks good, but like the story it’s become exclusively focused on that foreground: backgrounds start to drop out.  The “secret weapon” is unimpressive and new threats are dealt with within a panel, making them, essentially, not threats at all.  The stakes are low.

I’ll normally allow some wiggle room on the stars for artwork or that I was initially entertained, but the consistent dive in quality, along with the questionable origin of the series already put me on guard, has made it hard to give it any allowances.