The Jekyll Island Chronicles: The Machine Age War

The first volume of this dieselpunk alternate history series by a group of debuting creators takes the real-life Jekyll Island Club, which boasted elite members and played a central role in the creation of the Federal Reserve, and stretches it to fantastic fictional lengths. Following WWI, the members of the club—including Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Carnegie, and Henry Ford—fret over an anarcho-terrorist planting bombs around Europe and enlist a group of talented young folk to form a Fantastic Four for the early 20th century. It’s a fun idea, but it gets bogged down with endless meetings of the club discussing its plan, and the four young heroes get less space than the comings and goings of Wilson and Carnegie do. The art is up to the task of evoking the era when the story allows for a bit of excitement. Hopefully in future volumes the pace will match the potential a little better. (June)