Just a Couple of Steampunks: A Review of The Five Fists of Sciencess

Ver*i*si*mil*i*tude
The appearance of being truthful or factual.

Writing steampunk is tougher than it looks. On the surface of it all, you’re just taking science fiction concepts and adding them to the 19th century (usually either a wild west America or Victorian Britain). But in order to break the rules, you must have knowledge of them first, and not everyone can bring together historical characters with the skill of Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman. However, Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders have managed to assemble a historical dream team of a cast, and armed them with a background rich enough to drag a compelling story from its murky depths. Fighting on the side of the angels (or at least the people who want less wars and weapons in general) we have the historical figures of Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla, and Bertha von Sutter opposing the diabolical-but-disciplined Thomas Edison, a stage-chewing sinister CEO J.P. Morgan,  a surprisingly sympathetic Andrew Carnegie, and a Neville Longbottom parody of Guglielmo Marconi (the father of radio).

When I think of Mark Twain in comics, I am reminded of the classic Sandman story where Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemmons) interacts with Emperor Norton, the self-styled King of San Francisco. Here, Neil Gaiman takes a real-life encounter between the two (Twain was living in San Francisco at the time, and shared at least one meal with the Emperor) and spins a tale of the importance of self-delusion to happiness, and the importance of stories not strictly factual. Twain is more of an observer in Gaiman’s story than in Fraction’s, but both stories channel a facet of the humorist’s outgoing personality and help tell a story that’s none the less true for never having happened.

Twain in Five Fists of Science is much more of a showman; a huckster unapologetic of his own financial debts (“financially embarrassed” and “fiscally ashamed” are thrown around). Fraction does not so much write Twain’s antics as he does set him loose on the rest of the cast , with lines like “Had enough? Because I write lefty- I can keep punching like this all night...”. Tesla, a real-life colleague and admirer of Twain, does not need much introduction into his eccentricities. He is played well against the rest of the cast, and has some genuine moments of breaking free from the parody of his personal affectations and mannerisms; fans of his will not walk away feeling cheated.

Bertha von Sutter seems such a larger than life character that the fictional version suffers for it at first, coming off in some instances as a long-suffering female assistant trope and at others, an inferior copy of Alan Moore’s expropriation of Mina Harker. It is an inevitable dilemma when bringing her together with such characters (in every sense of the word) as Twain and Tesla; one of their first meetings together literally upstages von Sutter at her own event for global disarmament. As the story progresses, however, she becomes more dynamic, forcing the story to carve her a larger role. Given how much von Sutter wrote about the perils of sexism for both genders, it’s fitting to see her roll up her sleeves and save the day. The overall effect is enough of a success that Fraction and Sanders can be forgiven for playing it fast and loose with von Sutter’s age and appearance.

Although the specter of a global arms race hangs over the story in The Five Fists of Science, the traditional villain here is J.P. Morgan, a man whose real-life accomplishments make him perfectly suited for the role he plays in the comic. Although I find the writer’s connection to Lovecraft a bit on the nose, watching an eldritch J.P. Morgan sneer at Twain that he never liked humor solidifies his purpose; this is one of the times that Sanders’ art really makes the story. Andrew Carnegie is treated with much more sympathy; he comes off as more a Steve Jobs-type pulled along by Morgan’s machinations.  Given Carnegie’s philosophy of the wealthy helping the poor, as well as his efforts to establish public libraries in the U.S., I am inclined to go along with this softhearted propaganda. Thomas Edison is less a representation of the real person and more a portrayal of Tesla’s opposite. Demure where Tesla is disconnected, antiseptic when Tesla is eccentric, Edison really comes off as a credible threat to our heroes. And then there is Marconi, who almost was the first person to invent the radio (after Edison). More liberties are taken with this historical character than even J.P. Morgan, but that’s what happens when you fall in with the Fascists and Mussolini is best man at your wedding; there are worse things to be written as than a buffoonish stress-eater.

When held up against the real-life accomplishments of its characters, Five Fists of Science is perhaps a bit flawed, but damn fine fun. I am reminded of the joke where a man in a courtroom is asked to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing bu the truth, so help you God.” The man replies “Your Honor, I promise to show the truth a *real* good time.”