Dark Horse's historical "Rebels: A Well Regulated Militia" is dull, flat and forgettable

Seth Abbott just may be the dullest comic book character I've ever come across.  He's way too quiet and indifferent, and his demeanor in regards to his wife's affection and his mission as a colonist fighting the British army in the years before the American Independence are simply too passive.  The man isn't a man at all (for one, he's only seventeen at the story's beginning), but even worse than that, he's got nothing interesting to say, do or believe.  The only character insight we get is through flashbacks scenes involving him and his father, but unfortunately, those are few and far in between.

Writer Brian Wood's Rebels: A Well Regulated Militia - illustrated by various artists such as Andrea Mutti, Matthew Woodson, Ariela Kristantina and Tristan Jones - is a mixed bag.  While the artwork is impressive and well above par, the story and script are too slow, packing too many characters and battle scenes and amounting to a boring whole that is less than satisfactory.  Seth's wife, Mercy Abbott, is a lovely woman, but just as her husband, she doesn't have much to do or say.  Their marriage takes place way too quickly, without any build up, and as a result leaves us with very little to identify with.   When the two of them go skinny dipping early in the story, the result should be somewhat sexy and seductive, but is instead flat and uninteresting.  Just as the characters themselves.

Rebels looks great, but feels stale.  Just like an expensive Hollywood movie, it is all style and very little substance; I would be less than honest if I told you what the story here actually entails.  George Washington appears briefly as an angry general, but other than that, the colonists battle the red coats, Seth remembers his youth when his father's toughness would strip him of his adolescence, and Mercy spends years all alone, raising her and Seth's child for some six years, while the latter is off fighting in the war.  There is very little actual drama or suspense, and plenty of boredom for its readers (sigh).  Perhaps this historical account of the War for Independence isn't cut out to be a comic book.
C-