Yeah, read Maus, read part of Persiopolis (about growing up in increasingly fundamentalist Iran, while pushing for westernisation), and read pt 1 of Sandman. All of which, of course, had completely slipped my mind. And I know Marvel has Thor, and I know there are attempts at capturing history in comic book form, but they tend to be either far too campy (Thor, Conan, etc) or far too focused on teaching first, and then art. For example, I looked up historical comics, to find a single strip about Amerigo Vespucci sailing to the New World in 1499. THe art consisted of a ship sailing, a close-up of Vespucci, and a map of the North American coast. What would be better, in my mind, would be a picture of a ship sailing, but not from a few hundred feet away, but rather from the deck of the ship itself. Of Vespucci in his cabin, surrounded by charts and maps, guns and swords. Of coastline, with beaches, rocks, and trees. In all honesty, the premier version of the Historical Fiction that I meant would be Hal Foster's Prince Valiant. Excellent art, good stories, realistic characters, and history mixed with plot (though events don't really happen in proper chronological order). And yes, I did make far too many excuses.
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