500 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE COMIC BOOK - GORD HILL
Another random pick-up and the first comic of the year. I actually read another comic earlier this summer but I haven’t reviewed it yet. Lazy, I know. Anyway, this volume caught my attention because it’s oversized and very colorful. Which, thankfully continues throughout. The panels are very clear and legible, the lines are strong and the colors are bright. Even though this book covers a lot of battles and war, the action never gets crazy, as far as the art goes. There is depiction of the aftermath of a mass beheading as well as a panel depicting Aztec sacrifice. There is only one splash panel in the whole thing. I did like that Hill chose to often show looks of anger and defiance, rather than sorrow and resignation, on his native characters during the numerous defeats and atrocities they suffered. All that being said, the book is much more a project of information rather than a showcase for art. Like a beautifully illustrated zine. While it would have been quite different and interesting to say, had each episode illustrated by someone different, perhaps a current artist from the tribe being discussed, I appreciated that the art took a back seat to the information. And speaking of information, this book was incredibly informative. There were stories I knew pretty well, the Jamestown saga, Central Mexico, Columbus, the Inca, Santa Fe Pueblo revolt, as well as half-a-dozen or so that I only halfway remembered or had never heard of. It really does a great job spanning across the Americas. From Chile to Northern Canada, New York to Seattle. It does a good job despelling the idea that the Natives just sort of died off from disease and just not being equipped for the modern world, and that the YT man may have done some bad stuff but these things happen. Instead we see a centuries long, calculated genocide, with the actors changing but the ultimate goal exactly the same as it was in 1492. There was an interesting fact about the first ranger units, who of course are the precursors to our various Special Forces Operators, being formed out of a response to a devastating loss to the battle of Mononagaela and the need to learn native tactics. The author is Canadian so the book does seem to put more of an emphasis, especially in the modern era, of Canadian actions. This was great for me, I certainly do not know enough about indigenous resistance in Canada. This would be a great gift and is a wonderful resource, it’s so handy to have all these dates, from all these struggles all in the same place. You can get this information in books about discrete areas or time-frames but to put all the “big hits” in one easy to read volume is a great service. Obviously, each episode deserves several books explaining the entire context, but as an overview, this is really needed.