Based on the little known real life “Slave Insurrection” of
1741, this book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic
crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the
colonial social order
Rebel fugitive John
Gwin was previously introduced in Under the Banner of King Death and
this graphic novel continues his adventures. Revolution by Fire
is a hypothetical look at the inner workings of the so called “New
York Conspiracy” or “Slave Rebellion” of 1741, following the
figures who were considered the real-life masterminds of the plot.
Featuring an
eclectic crew of African-American, Irish, and mixed race Hispanic
sailors, soldiers, and renegades, Gwin and his band are determined to
capture New York City in their own names and fight the higher class
“wigs and ruffles” wearing white people. Unfortunately for the
conspirators, suspicions about an uprising were already in the minds
of the Governor and his fellow elites, and the events that followed
change the course of everyone’s lives forever.
Based on the chapter
titled “Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth” in Rediker’s and
Peter Linebaugh’s The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves,
Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic,
the book provides a fly-on-the-wall view of a historical event
reimagined, highlighting cooperation among races and classes that
transcends the social order of its time—and inspire us today.