On 26 August 1346, modern warfare changed forever...
Neil Willcox first brought Warren Ellis' Crécy (Avatar Press, 2007; art by Raulo Caceres) to my attention about a year ago in the comments thread for Aetheric Mechanics, another graphic novel by Ellis which just missed last year's Hugo ballot. It then took me a year to get around to acquiring and reading a copy. It was certainly worth the wait. Crécy is a sort of demi-historical story, with the setting, events, and technology historically accurate as far as I can tell, but using a narrator with an entirely modern sensibility and knowledge base who addresses the modern reader directly:
They've invaded us so many times that the French probably call us parsnip-eating surrender monkeys at this point.
That's one of the more printable quotes from William of Stonham, a longbowman in the service of Edward III during his extended pillaging tour of France in 1346. William has what might politely be called a very Anglo-Saxon vocabulary and uses it quite freely.
Warfare in Crécy is not neat, clean, or honorable. The English are conducting a sort of bandit raid, burning towns as they go, with the French chivalry and a pack of Genoese mercenary crossbowmen in hot pursuit. William has quite the grudge against the French for their repeated invasions of England, so he's not too fussy about the rules of war. Neither are King Edward and his son, the Black Prince. That isn't necessarily going to help when the vastly outnumbered English are finally forced to face the French army directly and see just how far asymmetrical warfare goes against overwhelming odds and more advanced technology:
These things are going to look primitive to you, but you have to remember that we're not stupid. We have the same intelligence you do. We simply don't have the same cumulative knowledge you do.
Along the way to the battlefield, Ellis gives us a very detailed overview of the technology of both the longbow and the crossbow and a look at the way Edward effectively created a citizen militia that could be mobilized into an effective amateur army. We also get a look at the corpse of Edward II (of hot poker fame) and some illustrated animosity between the various peoples of the British isles. The 14th century is not exactly my era, but I not only learned plenty about it from Crécy, I was inspired to do a little bit digging afterward just to get a bit more background. Perhaps this will help me keep at least some of the Edwards straight.
As with Aetheric Mechanics, I found the art extremely busy in some panels (mostly the early scenes in the woods) and a bit hard on the eyes because of it. It opened up nicely by the time everyone arrived at the battlefield, though, and the scenes taking place after nightfall are very well rendered. I particularly liked the wordless fear of the Genoese crossbowmen, rendered entirely through facial expression and strategic drops of sweat, and the visual borrowings from period portraiture and the Bayeux Tapestry.
Crécy is short (48 pages or so), punchy, obscene, educational, and brilliant. Ellis makes the (literally) gory details of history enthralling and memorable. The modern implications are not particularly subtle, either: superpower repeatedly invades weaker country; that country strikes back with horrifying and primitive, but very effective, tactics.
I highly recommend Crécy. Buy for yourself:
Edward II (of hot poker fame)
Let me guess.
You don't mean he was a card sharp, do you?
Posted by: Serge | April 07, 2010 at 09:52 PM
When you linked to it I realised my blog had very little actual content. I have a slightly more intellectual post up top now.
You don't mean he was a card sharp, do you?
(Ponders a bad taste joke about hole cards)
Posted by: Neil W | April 08, 2010 at 06:06 AM
No, not a card sharp. Neil knows his English history and can probably keep his Edwards straight. So to speak.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | April 08, 2010 at 07:12 AM
Neil: I actually get a lot of laughs out of reading your little exchanges with your students. One gets the impression that your job is like a witty school-based sitcom.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | April 08, 2010 at 07:18 AM
You can learn everything you need to know about Edwards I and II by watching Braveheart.
As for my job, people often ask if it's like the BBC TV series about a troubled secondary school, Waterloo Road. I don't watch it but usually say it's nothing like Waterloo Road. No really, nothing like Waterloo Road.
Posted by: Neil W | April 08, 2010 at 07:28 PM
Neil W... a bad taste joke about hole cards
Did you know that Kirk Douglas's Ace in the Hole was filmed here in New Mexico?
Posted by: Serge | April 08, 2010 at 09:33 PM