Crécy

One-sentence summary: This unusual one-shot from Warren Ellis presents the battle of Crécy in a realistic, period-based narrative with stunning art.

I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, which turned out to be good as I never would have expected what I got. Crécy is a graphic novel written following one soldier as he tells us (directly speaking to us, a modern-day audience) the background, motivation, and effects of the battle of Crécy. Not only was it historically accurate, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that this was educational. Now, don't get me wrong, it, being about a battle, has action in it as well, and as it tries to be true to the voice of a soldier, it's definitely explicit, so this isn't a kid's book; at the same time, though, I'd probably give this to a high schooler who's in world history.

I would have enjoyed just reading this book -- I'm a bit of a nerd, so simply reading about history's fun for me -- but what really set this apart for me as a quality read was the beautiful pencil/ink work of Raulo Caceres. Simply fantastic.

I went into this not knowing what to expect; what I got was a fantastic historical graphic novel that I'd recommend to both comic and history buffs, or those just wanting a good read.