Steve Cuzor

This is an African American spin on Monuments Men, with the action amped up closer to Saving Private Ryan levels and a hit of National Treasure added for spice. And yet it is dull as dirt.

During World War II, a North Carolina college student named Johanna Bolton discovers the Revolutionary War diary of a Black woman who altered Betsy Ross' very first American flag by sneaking a black star representing all African Americans under one of the thirteen white stars. Somehow dominoes fall and Bolton's brother who has been serving in support positions in the U.S. military in England is attached to the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program with his two closest buddies to track down the flag which has made its way to German-occupied France by way of a Hessian mercenary.

Everything in the plot seems highly unlikely, the dialogue is wooden, and the ending is just awful. Possibly in an attempt to make up for the flatness of the characters in the script, the artist seems to draw the three soldiers with the likenesses of Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Despite the focus on American race relations, the work is created by what look like a couple of white Belgian dudes. This originally appeared in print in French but I find no translator credited on this edition. I'm going to assume Edward Gauvin because he seems to translate all the boring French graphic novels I read.… (more)