Oni and Magnetic Press “Liberty!” marks a striking new chapter for creator Jordan Mechner, a storyteller whose work has shaped how generations experience narrative—whether through the rotoscoped elegance of Prince of Persia, the real‑time tension of The Last Express, or the deeply personal graphic memoir Tetris. With Liberty!, Mechner returns to the comics page with an international art team to create a political thriller that feels both timeless and urgently relevant. The book’s blend of historical resonance, human vulnerability, and systemic pressure showcases a creator who understands how to make a world feel alive—whether it’s rendered in pixels or ink.
With Liberty! coming soon to Kickstarter, we caught up with Mechner to discuss the project’s creative journey, how his experience in interactive storytelling shapes the book’s structure, and what it’s like to build a story where resistance, identity, and hope intersect on every page. So, let’s welcome Jordan Mechner to GVN’s Talking Comics.
The “Spark” of Liberty!
GVN: Thank you for sharing a bit of your day, Jordan. Let’s jump right into this exciting new graphic novel, just in time for America’s 250th celebration. “Liberty!” marks your first major graphic novel collaboration since your critically acclaimed “Replay” in 2024. What was the initial spark that convinced you this story needed to exist now, and why was comics the medium that could express it most fully?
JORDAN: When I learned that Pierre Beaumarchais, the brilliant French playwright and author of The Marriage of Figaro, had secretly helped the American revolution by creating a front company to illegally ship arms to the rebels in 1776–that got my attention! I’m fascinated by stories that show historical events through a side door, so to speak. In school, I found American history boring; but a playwright-turned-entrepreneur, legendary for his wit, who risks his personal fortune and reputation on an idealistic cause to help people fighting for their freedom an ocean away, while also convincing himself this could be a profitable business (it wasn’t), fascinated me as a character. He’s like an 18th-century French Tony Stark. The fact that Beaumarchais and his American partner Silas Deane are unsung heroes, with few people to this day knowing what they did, touched me. I found their story extremely resonant and relevant to today’s world.
Using the interactive storytelling experience to Shape “Liberty!”
GVN: You’ve built iconic worlds before—from Prince of Persia to The Last Express and in various media. How did your experience in interactive storytelling shape the political, emotional, and visual architecture of Liberty?
JORDAN: The canvas of Liberty is truly epic and cinematic–from the intrigue in Paris and Versailles, to loading ships with contraband arms in French seaports, to sail across the Atlantic, to gruesome battles and urban warfare being fought on the ground, notably in New York–my home town. It was important to me to be historically accurate, as in The Last Express. It’s a thrilling adventure and espionage story with fascinating characters, but also one that required deep research and period accuracy. Based on my experience in various mediums, this could either be a staggeringly expensive TV series, or a graphic novel. Guess which one I chose!
The International Art Team
GVN: You are collaborating with the talented French artists Le Roux & Chevallier — Étienne Le Roux and Loïc Chevallier bring a grounded, cinematic realism to the book. What qualities in their art made them the right partners, and how did your creative dialogue evolve as the project took shape?
JORDAN: I visited Etienne and Loic in Tours, where they live, and we sealed the deal over a bottle of Bordeaux–a city that features in the narrative. The book is a Franco-American collaboration, like the partnership of Beaumarchais and Silas Deane. Loic and Etienne are demons for research, like me–but whereas I start by reading a ton of books, they’re very visual, attuned to details of ships and uniforms and architecture. I’d deliver script pages, Etienne would storyboard, and Loic would dive deep into the historical references. Elvire De Cock, our fantastic colorist, was the incredibly important third pair of hands; color is so important in a book like this.
Thematic Threads
GVN: “Liberty!” deals with surveillance, authoritarianism, and the personal cost of standing up to power. What thematic threads were most important for you to explore, and how did you balance urgency with nuance?
JORDAN: As an American, as a European, as a descendant of refugees who survived totalitarian regimes, I identify deeply with people who stand up to tyranny, as civilians or soldiers–who risk their lives and safety to fight for a better future. The price of war and resistance is brutal. So it’s also understandable that many take a safer path, to survive and protect their families and careers, rather than make enemies of a regime that might stay in power.
The story of Liberty has all these themes. But I didn’t want to write a polemic. I tried to portray the events and characters honestly, respecting that everyone involved felt they were justified. I think when you do that, the nuances and ironies emerge naturally. The connection to present-day events also happens naturally. I finished the script a year before Russia invaded Ukraine. The artists were in the midst of drawing the battle of New York in 1776, and suddenly it felt like we were depicting the situation of people in Kherson or Donetsk in 2022. If reading Liberty! brings to mind the debates in America and Europe about sending weapons to Ukraine, it’s not because I meant it as an allegory–it’s just that history often rhymes.
The Structure of “Liberty!“
GVN: Your work often blends tight pacing with layered character work. What did your scripting process look like for “Liberty!” and were there storytelling techniques you approached differently compared to your game and film writing?
JORDAN: “Liberty!” was a tough book to structure, because the canvas is so vast and covers a period of several years. You have to compress, but I didn’t want to cheat by playing with the sequence of events–and when you’re telling the story of the American Revolution, you really can’t; the dates of key battles and events are literally carved in stone. My approach was to focus on the main characters, the personal journey each one takes, and bring them to the foreground as much as possible. I tried to form an opinion or at least a plausible theory about why each character did what they did–what they believed, what motivated them–and then not take dramatic liberties that would be inconsistent with that.
Visualizing Washington’s Cross of the Delaware
GVN: The book’s visual storytelling feels both intimate and expansive. Were there specific sequences where the art team surprised you or pushed the narrative in directions you hadn’t anticipated?
JORDAN: The scene of Washington’s army crossing the Delaware River to attack Trenton took my breath away. I knew from my research that the reality was nothing like that famous painting we’ve all seen in books, the boat with the heroic pose–but the way Etienne, Loic and Elvire brought it all together, with the snow, the bitter cold, the chaos and surprise attack–and the emotional kick of seeing one of our main characters we care about take a bullet (which really happened–I didn’t invent that!) delivered everything I’d hoped for from that sequence, and more.
Coming to Kickstarter
GVN: Oni and Magnetic Press are bringing Liberty to the Kickstarter platform with some exciting additions. With that in mind, are there any special features available in the campaign you are most excited about?
JORDAN: Magnetic does a beautiful job of printing high-quality graphic novels; I worked with them previously on Monte Cristo, my modern update of Dumas’ classic to post-9/11 America, drawn by Mario Alberti. I’m excited for the deluxe limited edition of Liberty. The one I most want to see is the “Contraband” crated edition, shipped in a wooden box stamped with the Roderigue Hortalez and Co. logo, and containing other goodies.
Thanking the Video Game Fans
GVN: Thank you very much, Jordan. Finally, you’ve influenced generations of creators across multiple mediums. How does Liberty reflect where you are now as a storyteller, and what do you hope readers take away from this new chapter in your creative evolution?
JORDAN: I’m very grateful to all the video game fans who’ve played my games over the years. Thanks to their support, I’ve not only had the chance to continue making games, but to get a second creative act as a screenwriter, and now a third act as a graphic novel author. The four major books I’ve done so far in comics format–Templar, Monte Cristo, Replay, and now Liberty–might be less familiar to game fans than Prince of Persia, but I consider these graphic novels some of the best storytelling I’ve done, with wonderful artist collaborators. I couldn’t have tackled them without the previous decades of experience of working in different mediums. I invite readers who enjoyed Prince of Persia, The Last Express or my other games to give Liberty a look–I hope they’ll be glad!
Liberty! is the kind of project that reminds you why Jordan Mechner’s work endures. Whether he’s reshaping how players experience time, tension, and consequence in games, or building layered human dramas on the comics page, Mechner has always chased stories that challenge the systems we live inside. With Liberty!, that instinct feels sharper than ever. The book’s collision of political pressure, personal conviction, and historical echoes creates a narrative that doesn’t just entertain—it expands our historical knowledge. As we celebrate America’s 250th Birthday, Liberty! asks readers to consider what freedom looks like. Especially as the structures around us shift, we discover who we become when action is required.
As Oni Press and Magnetic Press bring this ambitious work to Kickstarter, Liberty! stands as another reminder of Mechner’s ability to bridge mediums and tell an amazing saga. It’s a story crafted for readers who seek tension, humanity, and historical scope that lingers long after the final page. You can check out the Kickstarter Campaign here.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
