The story of Martha Washington, always written by Frank Miller and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, began in Give Me Liberty, a four-issue prestige-format mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics in 1992.
Begun in conversations between Miller and Gibbons in the mid-to-late 1980s, in the wake of their stellar successes on The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen (respectively): a series blending political satire and Americana (for which the English Gibbons had a particular passion) began to be developed. The hero would be someone who rose from abject circumstances through self-pity to become a truly heroic figure, and to emphasize this initial difficulties Miller made the protagonist a poor black woman named Martha Washington -- a name with rich American resonance. The setting would be the near future, as the United States had broken up into several extremist nations.
Some of the most powerful sequences were those of young Martha growing up in a ghetto, using her intelligence subversively, and joining the military as a way out. Among the creative characters in the series was the Surgeon General, a government minister who interpreted the removal of disease rather liberally. Among the creative devices in the series was a gigantic robot of the mascot of the Big Boy fast food hamburger company, a robot outfitted with cannons and weapons and that marched through the rainforest to secure it for the company's beef interests. A wild romp through political satire and a bizarre, dystopian future America, the series remains memorable if not quite revolutionary.
Give Me Liberty was followed by the five-issue mini-series Martha Washington Goes to War in 1995, also published by Dark Horse Comics. The three-issue mini-series, Martha Washington Saves the World, followed in 1999.
 http://www.sequart.com/frankmiller1.htm#martha
In 1990 Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons introduced the world to Martha Washington, a young girl from the slums of Chicago who became an unlikely hero in Americas fight for freedom. The world responded with an Eisner Award for best limited series of 1990.
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COMMENT: When I first read this I loved the sci-fi aspect and it had an orwellian style to it. I always wondered what 1984 would be like told from a less darker perspective with big brother not being so obvious. It's not that the series is not dark, but the colorful book is differen't from Frank Miller's normal stuff, but just as gritty and edgey. If this was released today, it would probably be attacked by the right as being subversive and un-american(when the right is afraid of words, you know it's good). It not only tells a terrific patriotic(not nationalist) story, but the use of colors fits this surreal patriotic future. Truely one of his best works IMO. Check out the original series, it's a great piece of political and social commentary, educational(it makes you think) and entertaining.
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