{"id":29496,"date":"2024-03-11T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T09:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29496"},"modified":"2024-03-07T17:59:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:59:01","slug":"calamity-jane-the-calamitous-life-of-martha-jane-cannary-1852-1903-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/03\/11\/calamity-jane-the-calamitous-life-of-martha-jane-cannary-1852-1903-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Christian Perrissin<\/strong> & Matthieu Blanchin<\/strong>, translated by Diana Schutz <\/strong>& Brandon Kander<\/strong> (IDW Publishing)
\nISBN: 978-1-63140-869-4 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Other people\u2019s lives are fascinating. Just see any TV schedule to affirm that watching what neighbours or strangers have done, are doing or want to do is a major drive for us nosy hairless apes. It\u2019s even more enticing if we\u2019re allowed a smidgen of comparison and an ounce of judgement, too. However, the problem with famous dead people is that we\u2019re forced to make our assessments at a remove because they\u2019re dead and we only have records or, worse, myths and legends to construct our portrait from. Thankfully, we\u2019re pretty imaginative monkeys too, and have drama to help us fill in the gaps and flesh out the characters.<\/p>\n

These gifts proved immensely valuable to author Christian Perrissin and illustrator Matthieu Blanchin in the creation of a 3-volume graphic biography demythologising one of the Wild West\u2019s most enigmatic icons. The award-winning result was Martha Jane Cannary: La vie aventureuse de celle que l\u2019on nommait <\/strong><\/em>C<\/strong>alamity Jane<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Perrissin studied Fine and Applied Arts before moving into Bande dessin\u00e9e, and from 1987 to 1990 apprenticed with Yves Lavandier before going solo. He has since scripted TV shows and film, written epic sagas such as El <\/strong>Ni\u00f1o<\/strong> and Cape Horn<\/strong> and inherited the scripting of venerable comics classic Redbeard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Co-creator Blanchin started out as a storyboard artist and illustrator at the turn of the century, before moving into comics, producing work for a host of companies and titles. Eventually he moved into historical and autobiographical material such as Blanche<\/strong>, Bonjour\u2026<\/strong><\/em> and Le Val des \u00e2n<\/strong><\/em>es<\/strong><\/em>. In 2002 he was hospitalised by a brain tumour and languished in a coma for 10 days. After convalescence and relapse he ultimately (in 2015) turned the experience into the hugely influential and celebrated Quand vous pensiez que j\u2019\u00e9<\/strong><\/em>tais mort: Mon quotidien dans le coma<\/strong><\/em> (When You Thought I was Dead: My Daily Life in a Coma<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

This monochrome, duo-toned translation offers their epic collaboration in one titanic tome, blending often-sordid facts of outrageous adventures, unflagging spirit and astonishing determination into an entrancing tapestry showing the underbelly of the American dream. With great warmth and humour, they construct a true masterpiece of the very real and strong woman behind all the stories – many concocted by Martha Jane herself – as she overcame and survived impossible odds, doing whatever was necessary to survive and protect her family.<\/p>\n

The tale begins with a graphic note from the creators, citing sources and contextualising her life and times in \u2018The Mormon Trail\u2026<\/em>\u2019<\/em>, before the unforgettable life story begins in an overcrowded cabin in the desolate prairie region of Utah. In her life, Martha Jane Cannary worked hard for little reward, met scoundrels and scalawags, gunslingers and heroes, lived on her wits and determination and was forced far too often to compromise her principles to preserve others as well as herself. She knew many famous men in many infamous places but I\u2019m not naming them. This is her book, not theirs.<\/p>\n

Calamity Jane was present throughout many of the most infamous moments of American history in its most iconic locations. She had far more enemies than friends and was most often despised and ostracised rather than honoured, but she always carried on, living her life her way. It was often tainted by tragedy, but she also scored her share of triumphs and experienced joy and love – always on her terms.<\/p>\n

This is a compelling and utterly mesmerising chronicle of authentic western principles and achievement to enthuse and enthral anyone with a love of history and appreciation of human strength and weakness.
\nCalamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903<\/strong> Translation and Art \u00a9 2017 IDW Publishing. Story \u00a9 2017 Futuropolis. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christian Perrissin & Matthieu Blanchin, translated by Diana Schutz & Brandon Kander (IDW Publishing) ISBN: 978-1-63140-869-4 (HB\/Digital edition) Other people\u2019s lives are fascinating. Just see any TV schedule to affirm that watching what neighbours or strangers have done, are doing or want to do is a major drive for us nosy hairless apes. It\u2019s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903”<\/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":[115,63,122,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-european-classics","category-historical","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7FK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29496","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=29496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29498,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29496\/revisions\/29498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}