Ryan O’Rourke

Published Jun 30, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Ryan O’Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided’s CubbiesCrib. Whether it’s taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what’s going on. Outside of entertainment, he’s a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor’s in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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This weekend, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday, a momentous occasion that has been anticipated across the land going back to the beginning of the new year. The country is awash in patriotism in many ways, from city streets lined with red, white, and blue decorations to advertisements honoring the milestone, and even a new Larry David series revisiting famous moments from American history with cringe humor and petty grievances. None of this would have happened, though, without the actions of key Revolutionary War players who fought against tyranny and secured independence from Great Britain. Everyone knows General George Washington, the founding fathers, and Paul Revere, but a new graphic novel Kickstarter, courtesy of the creator of the original Prince of Persia video games, Jordan Mechner, from Oni Press and Magnetic Press, is shining a light on the unsung heroes of the war effort.

Liberty pairs Mechner up with globally renowned French art duo Étienne Le Roux and Loïc Chevallier to recount the tale of the “black op” that altered the course of history in 1776. At the center of it all are daring Connecticut merchant Silas Deane and dangerously charming playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, two very different men who waged their own clandestine war overseas. When he wasn’t penning classics like The Barber of Seville, Beaumarchais navigated a high-stakes world rife with political intrigue and betrayal in the salons and counting houses of Europe, aiming to funnel weapons to the colonies, as the woefully under-armed Americans fought tooth and nail to keep New York. Collider is excited to share an exclusive extended preview of five pages that show the moments leading up to the invasion and the desperation of the Continental Army to keep their crown jewel port city out of British hands.

Our excerpt begins in London, where plans have been shared to reroute the British navy from Boston to New York to strike at the heart of the rebellion. It’s not long before the waters around the city are teeming with enemy vessels, and General William Howe has encampments spread across the Staten Island shores. In a letter, the wife of one of the revolutionaries writes of the harrowing situation she’s in while residing in the city with the redcoats looming. Colonists are divided, and she hears constant ridicule of the Continental Army and her beloved, even from her own family. She’s also surrounded by spies, adding to the feeling that she’s already in occupied territory. The situation has gotten so dire that the prospect of burning New York to the ground to waylay the British doesn’t even concern her, so long as freedom is won in the end. Each page is also filled with gorgeous artwork that’s highly detailed and evokes classic artistic depictions of the era in its shading and composition.

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

There is no shortage of great stories from the Revolution that go beyond Washington crossing the Delaware to show how a nation came together to carve its own destiny. Yet, Mechner knew right away that the story of Deane and Beaumarchais was the one he wanted to tell in Liberty. He sees their unlikely pairing and fight from the shadows to change minds and, in turn, change history as an important tale for the modern day that is still woefully undertold.

“From the moment I learned about this 18th-century ‘black op’ to ship illicit arms from France across the ocean to a desperately outgunned and outnumbered American rebel army, I knew I had to write it. The unlikely odd-couple partnership of two men who changed history, yet have few statues in their honor, grabbed my imagination. Their fight for freedom resonates in so many ways with current world events. I hope readers of all ages, on both sides of the Atlantic, will enjoy and identify with Liberty today.”

Although video games remain what he’s remembered for, including other classics like Karateka, Mechner has increasingly built a following with his graphic novel work. His previous major project was Monte Cristo, an adaptation of the legendary The Count of Monte Cristo, and his award-winning graphic memoir Replay, while artists Le Roux and Chevallier have previously shown their penchant for historical storytelling through projects like 14-18, documenting the experiences of soldiers in the First World War. That combination of experience on their resumes, from the cinematic and dramatic to the grounded and deeply human, is what makes them the perfect combo for Liberty, which plays out like a Revolutionary spy thriller, but with a sense of personal stakes for the people caught in the fight for freedom. Magnetic Press’ Director of Publishing, Mike Kennedy, describes the graphic novel as a stripped-back depiction of the American Revolution, born of deep research and reverence for the true, international uprising against tyranny on a historic scale.

“This is the American Revolution in stark relief — no mythmaking heroics, just a global chess match of empires, merchants, smugglers, and idealists. It’s a story of the struggle for freedom and political subterfuge, told with sweeping historical scope and intimate human drama. The 250th anniversary of American Independence is the perfect moment to bring this acclaimed graphic novel home to America. The Revolution wasn’t just about the birth of our nation; it was an international uprising with global implications, and Liberty captures that truth with nuance and cinematic flair.”

The Kickstarter campaign for Liberty is now open for support. Aside from the deluxe hardcover edition of the graphic novel, Magnetic Press will also debut a Limited Collectors’ 250th Anniversary edition, complete with a foil-stamped slipcase with Fleur‑de‑Lis & Liberty Iconography, a ribbon bookmark, foil-gilded pages, and a bookplate signed and numbered by Mechner. Get an exclusive look at the graphic novel in the gallery above and keep an eye out for updates on Magnetic Press’ social media pages.