Rome West

by Brian Wood, Justin Giampaoli, Andrea Mutti (Illustrator)

An alt-history account of the founding of America, as a lost fleet of Roman soldiers arrives a thousand years before Columbus.

In AD 323, a fleet of Roman ships is lost in a storm, and they find themselves on the shores of the New World, one thousand years before Columbus. Unable to return home, they establish a new colony, Roma Occidens, radically altering the timeline of America and subsequent world events as seen through the eyes of one family.

An exploration in alternative history from Brian Wood, Justin Giampaoli, and Andrea Mutti.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Alternate History, Graphic Novels Comics, Historical Fiction, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2018

About the author

Brian Wood's history of published work includes over fifty volumes of genre-spanning original material.

From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.

His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.

He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea, poor execution. Roman ships get blown off course during a storm in 323 and make land in Manhattan. With no way home, the Romans assimilate with the local Indian tribe. Fantastic idea! It falls apart though when it turns into a series of unrelated vignettes that span the next 1,700 years. The vignettes constantly mention cities and events we have no reference to. Without the worldbuilding of this alternate history, the reader has no anchor for any of these little stories. It's like the characters are speaking gibberish I don't care about half the time. What little world building there is is problematic as well. Rome West goes from getting gunpowder from Columbus to building the Panama canal and sniper rifles in the space of 50 years. There's just some lazy writing here. It's a real shame because I'd read the hell out of a series where Romans colonized the New World if it had a throughline.

[Roy Doron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. I really did. The concept was interesting, Andrea Mutti's artwork is incredible (his artwork is the only reason this review gets 2 stars instead of one), but the writing, research and awfulness of this book just can't be forgiven. As I can't review what's wrong with this work without spoilers, be warned... SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON.

One of the tasks that writers of alternate histories have before them is to understand the point of divergence and make that point somewhat believable to the point of suspension of disbelief. However, Wood and Giampaoli never even try to understand the Roman world that they have tried to recreate in the New World. One case in point.

The point of divergence is in 323 AD. That is when the ships in our story go through the storm that drives them west and they land in Manhatta. The roman emperor at the time was Constantine, one of the friendliest to Christianity. He ended the persecutions and made the religion one of the official faiths of the Roman Empire. Now, I'm no Christian fundamentalist, but regardless of my persuasion, it would be safe to assume that the people on those ships would have known about Christianity (as this takes place only a year before the war between Constantine and Licinius). Yet when Columbus arrives in 1492, and says Jesuchristi, the Roman/Taino syncretic society has no idea what he is talking about. If there was even one christian on those ships in 323, wouldn't some idea of Christianity been promoted or incorporated into the new societies that evolved? If not, why not? It is just lazy writing.

Even lazier is what happens after Columbus arrives. The local rulers are able to extract the secret of gunpowder from Columbus and his crew through a hard line bargaining. This is fine. But what happens in the next vignette is just baffling. The Romans begin, in 1545, to construct the Panama Canal and at that point have been in a war with the Aztecs (not the Mexica, mind you) for the better part of 20 year. Somehow, only 50 years after the introduction of gunpowder, the Romans have created a WWI cyberpunk style of weaponry and have such a large scale industrial capacity that they have built large terraforming excavators, weapons with telescopic sights... All this in just 50 years.

Lazy, lazy writing.

Don't both with this. There are much better, more believable and readable alternate histories out there.

[Sara the Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another entry for the "eh" shelf. I just didn't quite get this one. The premise is pretty neat. What if a shipwrecked Roman fleet were the first people to arrive in America in 323 A.D. well ahead of the infamous Columbus? How much would the future be altered and what would it look like?

The book vaults through different periods in "Rome West" history following the Valerius family who were part of the original Roman fleet who first settled there. As we move through world wars, technological advances, epidemics, and great discoveries the name Valerius comes to mean different things. But the time the story ends almost 1000 years later the Valerius family have gone from peace making assimilaters who chose cohabitation and marriage with the natives they encountered and a blending of cultures and belief systems to conquering despots responsible for every bit of misery in the world.

I think some of my issues stem from how short each historical segment is. Each period in the country's history is only about 5 to 10 pages. There really isn't time to make personal connections with any of the characters before we're moving on to the next period hundreds of years in the future. I was never clear on what exactly was so special or awful or whatever about the Valerius family and I never really got a clear picture of what New Rome even was or how the entire world was changed by how the discovery of North America was made.

The art is pretty nifty, very gritty and dark but there's a real warmth too particularly in the romantic relationships and familial portrayals. These seem like real people, which is perhaps why I was disappointed that I really had no idea who any of them were.

I just wanted more from this. That can be a good thing, when you just don't want the story to end. But in this case it had more to do with just not enough story to begin with.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

On Thanksgiving, we celebrate the Pilgrim’s feast of 1621 for the year’s harvest and for their partnership with the Native Americans. Although this holiday smacks of colonialism, white supremacy and is historically inaccurate, let’s just imagine if America was “discovered” in 323 AD by the Romans and our timeline was radically changed.

Brian Wood, a favored author of mine (although he is currently mired in some sexual harassment controversy), along with co-author Justin Giampaoli, takes the trope of an alternate timeline and tries to breathe some new life into it. Told in eleven vignettes, the only thread is that all the characters are descended from the Valerius family originally from Rome.

323 AD Manahatta (NYC): Several Roman galleyships are pushed off course when a violent storm strands them in the Hudson River Valley area of modern-day New York. Legionnaire Lucan Valerius, who has a gift for learning languages, takes command when the Captain is washed overboard. When the Lenape tribe greets the bedraggled soldiers there is a small skirmish, but Lucan understands that diplomacy is the key to their survival, and this first contact leads to the first of future alliances with the Native Americans of the region. Each side believes their deal is the better of the two.

847 The City of Val Seneca (Rochester, NY): A 500-year jump is excessive, as we are led to believe that the descendants of a ragtag group of less than 100 Roman soldiers have remained a central force in government, and have retained the language and customs of their ancestors. As the only Roman men were soldiers, the only way they continued their bloodline was through intermarriage with the local tribes. So I find it incredibly unlikely that the Valerius family looks so white, and that Roman traditions are so prized.

990 The Outpost of Roma Dorsetus (Newfoundland): The Vikings discover an outpost in Vinland and the soldiers there put up an epic fight.

1492 Concordia (Caribbean Islands): Columbus lands and finds an advanced civilization speaking Latin already there. Shocked, he shares that the original Roman empire fell years ago, and makes reference to Jesus Christ, which seems to be news to the island leader. This seems off, as the original soldiers from Rome would have heard of Christ back in 323 AD, so this conversation seems disingenuous.

1503 Roma Auster (Norfolk, VA): In the eleven years since Columbus landed and his ships were seized, the Valerius family studied the European technology onboard, and are now weapon makers themselves. Alliances and wars with certain tribes are mentioned.

1545 Lepido (Panama): The Panama Canel is being constructed already? And Rome West is at war with the Aztecs? Alrighty then.

1869 Sioux Colonia (Davenport, Iowa): Now a Valerius heir is taking a leisurely transcontinental train around the nation and she thinks about the history of the nation, that has some parallels with our world. She meets a storyteller- obviously, Mark Twain is in any timeline!

1939 The Port of Barentsland (San Francisco, CA): A mass murderer is on the loose, seeming to target those with Roman bloodlines. The police struggle to solve these hate crimes.

1941 Washoe Colony (Lake Tahoe, CA): A love story with a bit of commentary on the Valerius family branch that the new bride belongs to. A sweet tale, but it didn’t fit with the other stories.

1979 Rome West, Capital City (NYC): James Bond is a Valerius!

1989 Roma Bareas (Portsmouth, NH): A college student faces extreme prejudice as public opinion has turned against the Valerius family and she is being judged for what her family has done centuries before. I actually wished this story was longer, for it had some biting commentary about cancel culture and paying for the sins of the past.

I am a fan of artist Andrea Mutti’s sketchy work, who has collaborated with Wood before. The grittiness of wilderness living and the gore of war are shown in a realistic manner, with earthen tone coloring that is evocative and helps convey the story even more effectively. All the pages are divided into quadrants with some smaller panels within, there are no elaborate splash pages or large panels, but these workmanlike configurations match the tone of the story.

Overall, this story disappoints. The two authors take what Wood has done well in the past- detailing the rise and fall of a family over the years (Northlanders- Icelandic Trilogy), vignettes with characters studies (Rebels), and mixes it with social commentary (Briggs Land) but it doesn’t quite gel in this story. There are too many leaps of logic with too much time between earlier stories, and then there are too many clustered at the end. This graphic novel should have had more entries, and perhaps then it would have fleshed out into a more cohesive narrative, and become what the authors were aiming for but missed.

You can also find this review on my blog at: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2019/11/2...

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much a straight story as a series of vignettes, the weakest part being that over half the work seems to take place in the last century, unfairly condensing the first 1500 years so the author could rush to make obvious modern parallels rather than trust the audience not to be blind and stupid.

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the concept, but the rapid-fire refocus through time in such short stories really kept me from feeling attachment to any character. There’s such fertile ground here, and you can see that they turned some over, but the limitation of the format— originally digital one-shots— limit the impact. Still, it’s worth a quick read!

[Chrisorc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Haha ja, jag tror också att romarriket hade upptäckt ett sniper rifle 50 år efter att Columbus hade gett upp krutets hemlighet.
Apdålig, läs inte.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy do I wish this was a series!

The premise of this story is that a fleet of ancient Romans gets blown severely off course and starts a colony in america more than 1,000 years before Columbus lands there. Naturally, they were so cut off from the rest of the world that they grow and adapt differently from those in their homeland. They assimilate with the Native Americans and present a united front of a nation by the time Columbus lands. This short graphic novel spans the centuries following the descendants of the Valerius family as they are an old and powerful family from the first landing all the way through to the 1980s.

It is absolutely amazing to catch glimpses of the lives of these characters and the evolution of the country as it progresses through the years. And I find it interesting how extremely familiar many events are and the way in which it echoes true history.

My only complaint is that it's hard to get invested in characters that only last 5 pages. I really wish this was simply the beginning of a series and that I would be able to read full graphic novels of each of their lives.

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Definitely on to something. An alternate history of America except it was discovered by romans over a thousand years before Columbus. I wish it were longer but the stories were all relevant. It’s done in woods typical fashion of telling many stories about an entire land rather than individual people. I hope there’s more to come. 4 stars.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the outline of a very good book. It's little more than an elevator pitch and begs to be fleshed out. It's a minor tragedy that it's so terse.

A Roman flotilla is blown across the Atlantic by a storm in 323CE. They treat with the Lenape and gain a foothold in North America, interbreeding with the natives but maintaining a distinct Roman culture. We're shown tiny glimpses of the next 1800 years or so of alternate history.

Some highlights of the new timeline:
--As time passes, the "Romans" look far more Native American than they do European. (Because, duh.)
--The western Romans have no concept of Jesus or monotheism until the next European contact more than a thousand years later. (Because the Nicene Creed was not created until 325CE and Rome did not adopt Christianity until 380CE.)
--Native American civilizations figure prominently in world affairs in the 19th and 20th centuries. (Because they weren't colonized and genocided to the point of extinction by European invaders.)
--In the world of Rome West, technology is consistently decades ahead of the real world. (Because...Roman organization combined with western resources, perhaps?)

The timeline:
--847CE: Internal strife regarding how much the Roman(ish) elite should accept their mixed blood. (This ministory is given that most Roman of resolutions: political assassination.)
--A violent Viking incursion in 990AD.
--Columbus's arrival in 1492 (and his disarmament and imprisonment by the West Romans, who devour the European gunpowder technology).
--Repelling a full scale Spanish invasion in 1503.
--Construction of a massive canal spanning Panama in 1545, and a vicious war with the Aztec empire, which sees the introduction of germ warfare.
--1869 sees a POV character cross the continent by train, musing about the fascinating blend of cultures established on the continent: from the Roman cities Chesepioc Bay, Saukago (think Lake Michigan), and Orleans Nouveau to New Britannia up north and the Olmec-Roman pyramids down south. Her ultimate goal is a great Dutch port on the Pacific. "Aztecs, Britons, Dutch, people were people these days.
--The investigation in 1939 of a series of racist political murders in the very multicultural port of Barentsland.
--A mostly pointless love story in 1941, though it does point at rising anti-Roman sentiment throughout the continent.
--A le Carréan western spy steals advanced maglev technology from the Russians in 1979. Green energy has already been dominant for decades.
--In 1989, an uber-wealthy student, a direct descendant of the Roman officer who landed in 323CE, is driven to suicide by public resentment of her ancestry.

And the book just sputters to a stop. This is no kind of ending. It's a waste of potential.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was simply marvelous and to be honest I wasn't that big a fan of the art. It suited the story but the writing brought this all together. This is a story of the Rome that could have been had the Romans landed on America's shores and did all the things other explorers did, from meeting the indigenous peoples to burning through history to make it to corporate power and military might. It is a wonderful book and was a joy to read. Pick this one up and inhale it!

Danny

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept that ended up being rushed through. This should have been two, three times longer to achieve what it seemed to want to. As it is, ok, but a tad thin in terms of the history being covered.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've got a soft spot for alternate history, fiction about the Roman Empire, and graphic storytelling, and since they all combine in this, I thought I'd give it a shot. The basic premise is that in 323 AD, a Roman fleet is blown by storm to the shores of America (basically the same deus ex machina used in Asterix and the Great Crossing). Shipwrecked, the remnants of the troops forge an alliance with the local Algonquins under the leadership of an officer named Vallerius and establish "Rome West."

I thought the book would stay in 323 and explore what happens next -- unfortunately that is not the case. Instead, it hops and skips forward in time to show various vignettes of this alternate history, ostensibly through the descendents of one of the original Roman commanders. These come and go before the reader gets a chance to really understand who the characters are or what the stakes may be. Some episodes (a battle with Viking explorers) seem to serve very little purpose beyond "oh, it'd be cool to show Vikings and Romans fighting!" while others promise outsize importance (a soldier gets infected by Aztec plague) that never carries forward in time.

On a very basic level, the world-building is either too skimpy and scattered to engage, or simply fails basic suspension of disbelief. For example, the Roman soldiers promise to teach the Native Americans the secret of aqueducts, and images from later eras show elaborate bridges and villas. But unless an engineering brigade happened to survive the decimation of  this Roman military fleet, it's not clear where the skilled masons, architects, and civil engineers to undertake these labors would have come from. Similarly, an episode some five centuries after the initial contact revolves around the purity of the original Roman bloodlines. But since the original military fleet certainly wouldn't have been carrying Roman women, the very first generation post-landing would, by definition, have to be half-native. And five centuries later, there wouldn't be much to argue about.

I'm not particularly versed in ancient history, but there are some odd choices made. For example, these Romans are portrayed as unaware of Christianity and scoffing at the idea of a lone god, even though Christianity was well known throughout the empire, and the emperor who ruled in 323 legalized it. I'm not sure why the author's didn't just start the story several hundred years earlier. That actually, would have also have made a lot more sense in terms of the equipment and ships, which look to be of a much older era. It also would have made more sense in terms of the Romans themselves, since by the 3rd century, there weren't that many actual Romans serving in the Roman army anymore... I dunno, seems like if you're going to create an alternate history, maybe at least do better research?

Along with all the narrative problems, the artwork doesn't do the book any favors. It lacks any distinctive style, and along with the coloring, is just kind of bland. Faces, in particular, don't fare well. It's disappointing -- the premise is intriguing, but the execution is poor.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for the alternate history fans. In AD 323, a group of Roman ships is lost in a storm and wash up on the shores of the New World, a preceding Columbus by a thousand years. Unable to return home, they establish a new colony, Rome West (Roma Occidens), completely altering America history and subsequent world events. This is not a straight story of events, but a series of vignettes following the line of one family through nearly two thousand years of events.
Some people find this book annoying, not having one protagonist, but you have to look at the main character being the land of Rome West itself, and see it grow, thrive, go through struggles - both foreign and domestic- and eventually question everything about itself, when it becomes the greatest superpower in the world. Once you accept that, the stories are much more enjoyable and you watch society change in time.

There are some complaints, mostly about the gear the Romans are using with the time period- these might be true, but who cares? The story only lasts eight pages, then jumps ahead two hundred years. The only objection I have is the encounter with Columbus, where the centurion on the island makes several leaps of logic about these people he’s never seen before - sure seemed like the author making a speech.

There was also an objection about Christianity being unknown to the people of Rome West, until the Spaniards arrived, while the Romans would’ve known about it (the emperor at the time was Constantine, who converted to the religion), but the religion they do have seems to be a mixture of the old Roman Gods and Algonquin beliefs. So it make sense that none of the Romans who washed up were Christians and just didn’t pass on the knowledge of this religion while struggling to survive.

While you might argue with the events and time period that they occur in, this is still a fascinating book, and one to cause discussion. The art is amazing and backs up each time period ably. Characters are distinct and action is fluid. Well worth a look.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um delicio e se. E se... uma armada romana tivesse sido apanhada pelas tempestades do atlântico e ido dar à costa da américa do norte? É essa a premissa de Rome West, uma divertida história alternativa onde náufragos fundam uma nova Roma a ocidente. Com a desvantagem dos números, os legionários optam pela mescla de culturas, e os valores e tecnologia romanos cruzam-se com a ancestralidade das tribos índias. O resto é história, alternativa, claro. Quando Colombo chega às américas, o novo e o velho mundo voltam a cruzar-se, mas com índios civilizados que falam latim e são capazes de rechaçar as tentativas de invasão espanhola. E assim evolui todo um novo mundo, feito de misturas de etnias, culturas e países. Os americanos têm como uma das premissas do seu nacionalismo o serem uma espécie de Nova Roma, e estas histórias levam essa premissa aos campos da história alternativa.

[Brandon Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

So rarely does a piece of fiction give me exactly what I want.

As a writer and reader of alternate history, I'd stumbled on to the idea of the Romans discovering America. For a while, I began workshopping a story about the idea, until I realized that the ground had been well covered.

Not wanting to sink into a massive novel series about something I had once wished to write about, Rome West gave me the story I wanted in a condensed form. Each vignette covers a member of the same family as the Romans spread their new empire across what we would call the Americas.

I enjoyed seeing each historical encounter rewritten. The greater world presented is plausible and engaging. I enjoyed each story of its own merit and would gladly have read more.

[Brian Minsker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great world building and alternate history as you would expect of Brian Wood, but what's missing is what usually makes Wood worth reading--great characters. Rome West reads like a quick skim through a series, something written to sell a publisher on backing a real series that would take several years and several dozen issues to tell. The characters and the history are well done, but with each stop along the timeline only taking up six to ten pages, you can only flesh out characters so much. I enjoyed reading it, but I wish there was so much more of it.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rome West is more of a thought experiment than an actual graphic novel. We get an alternate history of North America in short vignettes - the only through-line is that a character in each vignette is a descendant of one of the original Romans who crash landed on the coast. Romans meld with Native Americans, quickly establishing a dominant culture. Some stories focus on war and advanced technology while others are glimpses of how inclusion works in this new world order. It's all fairly fascinating, but since the stories are so short, it's hard to become invested in the world.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a web series so the panel formatting doesn’t translate all that well. But...

Brian Wood, despite the critical reviews here, is an excellent writer. I don’t believe his intentions were to provide an “accurate alternative history”—that just sounds ridiculous. I believe the whole point is to expose human weaknesses and strengths and project a moral reconciliation with how our own timeline is rolling out. This is similar to the way sci-fi uses different planets and political systems to make a commentary on our own lives.

Brian Wood excelled at this.

[Romany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story has a massive scope and is necessarily a big project. What’s missing in character development is made up for in the creativity of the scenes, and the deft weaving of history and reality with this new alternate timeline. I’m not a historian, so I imagine I was able to overlook a lot of the errors other reviewers have pointed out. It’s a good story and well worth reading just to marvel at the imaginations of the artists and writers.

[Martin Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't the first time Wood has delved into the past for material, but it might be the least successful run at it - at least it is to me. The alternative history angle could have opened up for some interesting commentary, but it falls flat for me. Nothing much really changes except that certain things happen a bit earlier or a bit differently, but the arc of history bends in the same general direction and the final story just leaves a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun bit of alternate history. I especially loved what happened when Columbus landed, only to find the "New" World already settled by Europeans. I did feel the attempt to trace the "Valerius" family branch down through the ages distracted from the better alternate history of the impact of a Roman settlement upon the trajectory of North America.

[Anne Karine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot outline is really intriguing, but I feel like this was too short to do anything other than scratch the surface. There's not enough time spent on the various stories to get a good feel for the characters,. They mostly feel like cardboard cut-outs, which makes this pretty forgettable. 2.5 stars

[Rafael]

Solid little alternate history (AH) graphic novel. The point of divergence (POD) is that a Roman ship landed on the east coast of North America, and the Roman sailors and soldiers intermixed with the Native populations. Hundreds of years pass, and North America is now a Roman outpost.

Plausible? Who knows? Entertaining? Sure.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rome West, by Giampaoli & Wood
The family name Valerius becomes an anathema. A re-writing of history that is superintelligent and complicated. To wat purpose I do not know. ***
Set in :
323AD New York City
847 NY
990 Newfoundland
1492 Caribbean
1503 VA
1545 Panama
1869 Iowa
1939 CA
1941 CA
1979 NYC
1989 NH
…..

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of fun to have an alternative history based on the 'what if?' scenario of shipwrecked Romans colonising America, but it's scattered, trying to cover episodes from nearly two millennia and a bit unsatisfying in some respects.

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for the concept and the fact that I thought the art was alright. The problem is that the idea of this alternate world is much more interesting than any of the vignettes in the book. Though I did like the big picture the authors were going for.

[Mark Caton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premise, sad execution. The vignettes were too short to get to know the characters. During the battle scenes I had a hard time knowing which side was which. There is a lot of in theory interesting world building, but we see so little of it, but it never really comes together.

[Greggd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to like this more. Concept was awesome, the vignettes were disjointed ; it felt like they were covering too much ground in too short of time.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good graphic novel dealing with an alternative history of America.