LoneRider
Purple Belt
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.viewCategory&FriendID=97185984&BlogCategoryID=1
I wasn't a big comic book reader (unless you count Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield) till a couple of years ago. I read Art Spiegelman's Maus, in which anthromorphic animals are used to tell the tale of a Holocaust Survivor, the author's own father, Vladek Spiegelman as part of a class called Literature of War in 2005.
There's a shop called The Dragon's Tale in the Tradewind's Shopping Plaza where I attend my Kung Fu class twice a week. I've gone in there multiple times since 2006, just poking my nose in there out of curiousity.
I happened upon this comic book called Crecy, depicts the English victory over the French at the Battle of Crecy during the 100 Years War. What happened was an outnumbered English army defeated a far superior French force utilizing better tactics and the killing prowess of the longbowmen (kinsfolk of Robin of Locksley, better known as Robin Hood). It grabbed my attention because of my own knowledge of history and how the battle of Crecy showed that an outnumbered force using combined arms (longbowmen, dismounted men at arms, and knights) and superior tactics can triumph over a numerically and materielly superior force.
The story follows one William of Stonham, an archer in the service of King Edward III. William narrates to the reader the events of the battle with a cocktail of profane and bellicose British slang combined with some excellent insights breaking the 4th Wall.
For instance in one scene where he refers to the English arrows of the period: "These things are going to look primitive to you but you have to remember that we're not stupid. We have the same intelligence of you. We just don't have the same cumulative knowledge that you do. So we apply our intelligence to what we have."
I found it to be a very interesting way to depict a crucial battle of history, using the medium of the comic book. I of course loved the story because it told the story from the point of view of a common soldier.
Bit of medieval trivia: the two fingered 'peace sign' that you see on the comic cover are the two fingers used to nock an arrow. Archers used to present these two fingers at opposing forces before they'd nock arrows, it was the equivalent to giving someone the bird. Helluva contrast to what a 'V' with middle and index finger means these days (i.e. the Peace Sign).
I really enjoyed how the narrator stated that the longbow was made with an understanding of muscle and nature. I took a course in medieval history Warfare in the Middle Ages and I recall my professor having told me about how forensics experts who examined exhumed medieval graves could tell if the man was an archer due to evidence of increased upper body musculature.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever read this particular comic on the battle of Crecy. If not, I highly recommend it for any historically minded folk or those who enjoy good storytelling. I guessed any archery types would enjoy it as well...
I wasn't a big comic book reader (unless you count Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield) till a couple of years ago. I read Art Spiegelman's Maus, in which anthromorphic animals are used to tell the tale of a Holocaust Survivor, the author's own father, Vladek Spiegelman as part of a class called Literature of War in 2005.
There's a shop called The Dragon's Tale in the Tradewind's Shopping Plaza where I attend my Kung Fu class twice a week. I've gone in there multiple times since 2006, just poking my nose in there out of curiousity.
I happened upon this comic book called Crecy, depicts the English victory over the French at the Battle of Crecy during the 100 Years War. What happened was an outnumbered English army defeated a far superior French force utilizing better tactics and the killing prowess of the longbowmen (kinsfolk of Robin of Locksley, better known as Robin Hood). It grabbed my attention because of my own knowledge of history and how the battle of Crecy showed that an outnumbered force using combined arms (longbowmen, dismounted men at arms, and knights) and superior tactics can triumph over a numerically and materielly superior force.
The story follows one William of Stonham, an archer in the service of King Edward III. William narrates to the reader the events of the battle with a cocktail of profane and bellicose British slang combined with some excellent insights breaking the 4th Wall.
For instance in one scene where he refers to the English arrows of the period: "These things are going to look primitive to you but you have to remember that we're not stupid. We have the same intelligence of you. We just don't have the same cumulative knowledge that you do. So we apply our intelligence to what we have."
I found it to be a very interesting way to depict a crucial battle of history, using the medium of the comic book. I of course loved the story because it told the story from the point of view of a common soldier.
Bit of medieval trivia: the two fingered 'peace sign' that you see on the comic cover are the two fingers used to nock an arrow. Archers used to present these two fingers at opposing forces before they'd nock arrows, it was the equivalent to giving someone the bird. Helluva contrast to what a 'V' with middle and index finger means these days (i.e. the Peace Sign).
I really enjoyed how the narrator stated that the longbow was made with an understanding of muscle and nature. I took a course in medieval history Warfare in the Middle Ages and I recall my professor having told me about how forensics experts who examined exhumed medieval graves could tell if the man was an archer due to evidence of increased upper body musculature.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever read this particular comic on the battle of Crecy. If not, I highly recommend it for any historically minded folk or those who enjoy good storytelling. I guessed any archery types would enjoy it as well...