Imagine a collaboration between Arnold Toynbee and R. Crumb and you
get a pretty good idea of Gonick's clever and ambitious comic book
series. This volume should not be taken as some kind of Mel
Brooksish joke. Gonick does his research and interprets his sources
with scholarly care. Inspired by the educational comic books of
Latin American artist RIUS, Gonick makes world history a blast -
literally, with his predilection for onomatopoeic word balloons. In
this second collection - the last left us with Alexander the Great
schlepping toward Persia - Gonick takes us on a side tour through
India and China. He integrates myth and history to establish the
origins of sectarian conflict in India, and attends to migration
patterns from the Middle East to China in order to explain the
development of Buddhism and Confucianism. Dynamic intrigue and the
threat of northern barbarians compete with periods of prolonged
peace. This highly selective version of Chinese history, though
full of diverting stories, will be a bit confusing to readers
unfamiliar with the main players. Back in Rome, meanwhile, after
the death of Alexander, the republic enters its period of glory,
followed by the building of the empire. Problems of succession lead
to lots of lurid anecdotes about perverse and insatiable emperors,
violent entertainments, brutal conquests - all of which Gonick
records with Mad-like irreverence. He equivocates, however, in
telling the story of Jesus, ending up with an uneasy mix of
canonical fact and outfight heresy. His account of the historical
rise of Christianity is superb and demonstrates an interesting
parallel with China: In both cases alien cults from the edge of the
empires eventually captured the capital cities. Gonick's humor is
mostly visual and relies on the juxtaposition of comical images
with his relatively sober text. Despite his lefty, multi-culty
inclinations, Gonick maintains the high level of sophistication,
skepticism, and just plain fun established by the first volume.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Here's a new installment of the phenomenal bestseller that Publishers Weekly selected as one of the twelve graphic books of all time. Spanning ages and continents from Ancient India to Rome and China in A.D. 600, Volume II is hip, funny, and full of info.
B & W illustrations.
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