{"id":20897,"date":"2019-10-14T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T08:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=20897"},"modified":"2019-10-12T14:55:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T14:55:34","slug":"1066-william-the-conqueror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2019\/10\/14\/1066-william-the-conqueror\/","title":{"rendered":"1066: William the Conqueror"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Patrick Weber<\/strong> & Emanuele Tenderini<\/strong>, translated by Pierre Bison<\/strong> and Rebekah Paulovch-Boucly<\/strong> (Europe Comics)
\nNo ISBN:<\/p>\n

Although I’ve never for a moment considered history dry or dull, I can readily appreciate the constant urge to personalise characters or humanise events and movements, especially when the job is undertaken with care, respect, diligence and a healthy amount of bravado.<\/p>\n

Excellent case in point is this superb, digital-only retelling from 2011, postulating on individual motives and actions whilst relating the events leading up to the most significant moment in English – if not full-on British – history (apart from all the other ones). Other individual and national opinions may apply\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In case you were one of those who were asleep, surreptitiously ogling a classmate who didn’t even acknowledge your existence, or carving your name into a desk or a body part: on October 14th<\/sup> 1066, a force of French invaders led by William, Duke of Normandy<\/em> clashed with the forces of Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson<\/em> in East Sussex near Hastings (most historians agree that the actual bloodletting happened in a place later dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Battle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and commemorated thereafter by the edifice of Battle Abbey).<\/p>\n

Translated into a compelling and lovely digital edition thanks to the benevolence of the collective imprint Europe Comics, 1066: William the Conqueror<\/strong> opens with historian and author Patrick Weber’s foreword ‘Before Setting Sail’<\/em>, revealing how the magnificent Bayeux Tapestry closely inspired the fictionalised account he crafted with veteran comics illustrator Emanuele Tenderini (Dylan Dog<\/strong>, Wondercity<\/strong>, World of Lumina<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The story is gripping and savvy, putting flesh and bones on a wide range of complex characters all trapped in a web of royal intrigue and savage power politics, long before Halley’s comet appeared in the skies over northern Europe more than a millennium ago. The war of nerves between the kings and kingmakers of proto-England, machinations of the ferocious Godwinson clan and untrammelled ambitions of the Norman Duke play out against the pitiful backdrop of a rich and powerful country suffering for lack of coherent – or even barely capable – leadership. The parallels to today are painful to behold and we all know how it turned out.<\/p>\n

Here though is a possible explanation of why\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Most marvellous of all, this is also a brilliantly compelling adventure yarn with readers not sure who to root for before the big action finish\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Adding lustre to the tale is bonus section ‘Deep Within the Inner Stitchings’<\/em>: an accessible exploration of the Tapestry accompanied by character sketches and designs.<\/p>\n

Potent, beguiling, evocative and uncompromising, this a retelling any fan of history and lover of comics will adore,
\n\u00c2\u00a9 2015 – Le Lombard – Tenderini & Weber. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Weber & Emanuele Tenderini, translated by Pierre Bison and Rebekah Paulovch-Boucly (Europe Comics) No ISBN: Although I’ve never for a moment considered history dry or dull, I can readily appreciate the constant urge to personalise characters or humanise events and movements, especially when the job is undertaken with care, respect, diligence and a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “1066: William the Conqueror”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[63,122,132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-classics","category-historical","category-older-kids"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-5r3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}