A Man Among Ye vol. 1

John and I have gone back and forth at one time or another about the idea of representation in comics.  I’m all for seeing diversity in stories regardless of the setup.  Which is why you’re reading a review of a new series about female pirates.  John isn’t against the idea of diversity at all.  He’s just not going to check out a title solely on that basis as he needs there to be something actually new being done with the story.  I bring this up because this first volume of “A Man Among Ye,” by writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Craig Cermak, helped me to understand his perspective a little better.

That’s because this female pirate story doesn’t do anything that I haven’t seen before.  Real-life pirate Anne Bonny is its protagonist and she’s living it up at the start of the story as first mate to “Calico” Jack Rackham as they’ve just plundered a British ship for all its coin.  What they don’t know right away is that they’ve also picked up a stowaway, with a secret that you’ll likely see coming before it’s revealed at the end of the first issue.  It’s also likely that you’ll be able to guess how the story’s mix of subterfuge, betrayals, murders, and explosions will play out by the time this volume reaches its end.

This first volume of “A Man Among Ye” is one of those cases where it’s not a matter of the above-mentioned events being done badly.  Phillips gives us a likably spiky protagonist, and some crewmembers who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, while Cermak does a capable job of capturing the look of the era and telling a clear story.    What vol. 1 doesn’t have is anything that surprised me or cast any doubt on the idea that I had seen this all done before.  I’m all for the idea of a female-centric pirate series, but I’m considerably less excited by the realization that they’re not going to be any different from the male-centric ones I’ve already experienced.