A Man Among Ye #5 Review

There are minor spoilers in this review!

ARGHHHH you ready adults?!? A Man Among Ye is BACK and I couldn’t be more ecstatic!

Story by Stephanie Phillips, art by Josh George, colors by John Kalisz, and letters by Troy Peteri, A Man Among Ye focuses on Anne and many other pirates on their journeys to treasure, glory, safety, etc, depending on the character! This series focuses on women which is important to note because god I’ve seen all the pirate stories on men- where are the stories of women pirates, not just the women that were at men’s sides? A Man Among Ye does a great job at doing this while not making it feel so “on the nose”; the women being pirates and the main characters of this line feel natural as hell. There isn't much time spent on "how can women be pirates and such in the 1700's?"- it's just understood and fairly normalized. It's refreshing!

In the last issue of A Man Among Ye, #4, left off with our favorite crew wrecking the British and escaping onto their own ship. Of course, the British want their revenge, while our lead protagonist, Anne, specifically wants to kill John Rackham once and for all, a pirate she has a past with and used to trust- until he betrayed her for an “offer”. As the battle wanes down, I wasn’t exactly sure where this issue would start but let me tell you nerds- they got me on the first page, because when my bi-ass turned to the first page after the creator credits-

ALL. THE. GAY. Look at this!! Look at women! Look at Anne flaunting that Big Dick Energy (BDE)! TAKE MY MONEY!!!!

It’s so great to see a fellow bi person like Stephanie Phillips write a moment like this into a script, and the art from Josh George is fantastic! It’s completely possible to draw three women, after a night of sexual activities together, sexy as hell and eye-catchingly without oversexualizing them. Instead, this is hot as hell AND tasteful! Huge props and thanks to Josh George for making this happen.

Once I got past this page and stopped staring (I admit, it took at least a few minutes for me to move on), I chuckled at another one of our characters, Mary, being the one to “barge in” on Anne. I love how Mary is kind of bashful about seeing Anne with two other women while Anne doesn’t think anything of it. It’s great to see multiple perspectives, but particularly I love seeing an (assumingly queer) woman protagonist completely comfortable in her sexuality and unashamed. I feel like every page of this issue I’m just being refreshed! If you think I’m done talking about this one scene, you’re wrong, because oh my god Stephanie Phillips went there- she really wrote Anne asking Mary about her “package” as she’s getting dressed after a three-way with two women. I can’t- I know this is probably going to be an actually important package, but the BDE innuendo was NOT lost on me. I am LIVING my best life with this comic!

As the comic continues, it only continues in the fun! We see two other characters, a pirate named Iris and a British-turned-Criminal? woman named Lady Jane walking around together, processing their feelings both on Anne and on their current situation. We see Mary and Anne trying to plot their next moves and bonding a bit, and finally, we see a ton of pirate action in the second half of the issue which is just *chef’s kiss*. The brutality of slicing through a British man’s chest with a gorgeous sword? Uncanny!

If you’re a huge fan of great writing, fast-paced character growth and action, women, queer characters, and pirates, then A Man Among Ye is for YOU! Why aren’t you reading this??? GET IT! GET IT! Maybe then Stephanie Phillips will be inclined to send Anne to your house for a great night- or at least send you a cool sword? Maybe? One can dream! Add this to your pull list TODAY or miss out on one of the most enjoyable comics of the year!

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