Lafayette!

Lafayette!, the latest entry in the series Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, is the first to return to the time period of the first volume. It covers the remarkable life of the upstart French general who contributed to the American victory in the Revolutionary War and also helped forge the alliance between the erstwhile British colonies and France. Also, of late he has been brought back into the public sphere via the wildly popular musical Hamilton.

As you might could tell from the cover, here Lafayette is generally depicted as a broad, boisterous presence, though his origins are shown to be pretty grim. He came from a long line of military figures. Orphaned by age 13, the Marquis was left with great wealth and a position as a commissioned officer. He married early, and bounced from place to place trying to figure out a direction for his life. Inspired by Masonic ideologies, he felt the need to support the cause of the US Colonies, and he went over to North America to offer his services to George Washington. He began small but took on greater roles with the Continental Army over time, eventually commanding US troops in a pivotal victory at Yorktown.

What I especially loved about this book was how it took historical figures and made them human and relatable. It's easy to think of them as mythic figures but here they are shown with regular emotions, flaws, and humorous affects. Also, like the other books in this series, it is jam-packed with facts, but Hale also injects good doses of humor and irony, which make this book both compelling and a joy to read. I don't know how he keeps such a consistent level of excellence across the entries in this series, but I am very glad he does.

I am pretty sure I have reviewed all the graphic novels created by Nathan Hale on this blog, and I think he is brilliant. He makes fantastic, informative, and inventive comics, and this series Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is the best historical series in the graphic novel business, IMHO. His fiction work, like the sci-fi tale One Trick Pony and a duo of adapted folk tales Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack, is also excellent. He speaks about this book and his work in general in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Robert Greenberger wrote that "Hale’s pages are filled with detail, using black, white, and shades of red to vividly bring the past to life." Kirkus Reviews summed up, "Fans of history, Hamilton, and/or Hale’s previous entries will be clamoring for this latest volume."

Lafayette! was published by Amulet, and they offer a preview and more here.

My favorite couple of panels in the book. They made me LOL