'Hark! A Vagrant': Witty Comics on Historical and Literary Figures
From New Yorker cartoonist Kate Beaton comes Hark! A Vagrant -- a witty and wonderful collection of comics about historical and literary figures and events, based on her popular Web comic of the same name. Scientists and artists, revolutionaries and superheroes, suffragists and presidents -- they're all there, as antique hipsters, and they're all skewered with equal parts comedic and cerebral prod.Beaton, whose background is in history and anthropology, has a remarkable penchant for conveying the momentous through the inane, aided by a truly special gift for simple, subtle, incredibly expressive caricature. From dude spotting with the Brontë Sisters to Nikola Tesla and Jane Austen dodging groupies, the six-panel vignettes will make you laugh out loud and slip you a dose of education while you aren't paying attention.
I think comics about topics like history or literature can be amazing educational tools, even at their silliest. So if you learn or look up a thing or two after reading these comics, and you've enjoyed them, then I will be more than pleased! If you're just in it for the silly stuff, then there is plenty of that to go around, too. --Kate Beaton
Beaton is also a masterful writer, her dialogue and captions adding depth to what's already an absolute delight.
Handsome and hilarious, the six-panel stories in Hark! A Vagrant will undo all the uptightness about history instilled in you by academia, leaving you instead with a hearty laugh and some great lines for dinner party conversation.
Image: Kate Beaton / Drawn and Quarterly; Maria Popova.
This post also appears on Brain Pickings.