Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello returns to comics for the first time in fifteen years with Leviathan Freedom, a 5-issue miniseries inspired by the true story of American hero Robert Smalls. It debuts this summer via Amazon’s Comixology Originals. Read the full story below.
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Leviathan Freedom is a sci-fi reimagining of the legacy of Robert Smalls, a man born into slavery who seized his freedom by commandeering a Confederate warship and sailing himself, his family, and others to liberation. Smalls’ story helped persuade Abraham Lincoln to allow African American soldiers to fight for the Union army. Morello takes that revolutionary spirit and launches it into the cosmos, setting the story in a galaxy divided by civil war, where the human cost of conflict is felt not in the war rooms but by the Doldrums, the laborer caste essential to the war machine, until one man decides to stand against it.
Morello teams with Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Marc Guggenheim, known for his work on the Arrowverse, Blade, and Star Wars, artist Szymon Kudrański, whose work includes Spawn and No Man’s Land, and letterer DC Hopkins. Leviathan Freedom features covers by Szymon Kudrański.
Morello says: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been on a mission to unearth the stories of revolutionaries — the fighters, the visionaries, the ones history either buries or sanitizes beyond recognition. Robert Smalls is one of those heroes. The idea of taking his revolutionary spirit and launching it into the cosmos feels like a perfect extension of his fight.”
Guggenheim adds: “Leviathan Freedom comes as a reminder that true freedom is rarely given and very often must be taken.”
Morello first made his comics debut with the acclaimed Dark Horse series, Orchid, in 2011. The Leviathan Freedom announcement came alongside two other major weekend milestones for Morello: performing with Bruce Springsteen on the Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour and the North American premiere of The Ballad of Judas Priest at Hot Docs, a documentary he co-directed alongside metal documentarian Sam Dunn (Banger TV, Metal: A Headbangers Journey, Flight 666).
Fans can currently catch Morello with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on their Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour, before he heads to Europe for his Electric Full Band Show in June, for multiple festivals, and Louder Than Life in September.
