Colonial Comics: New England: 1620 - 1750

Colonial Comics is a graphic novel collection of twenty stories focusing on the colonial period from 1620 through 1750 in New England. These illustrated stories focus on tales you cannot find in history books. Includes stories about free thinkers, Pequots, Jewish settlers, female business owners and dedicated school teachers, whales and livestock, slavery and frontiers, and many other aspects of colonial life.

Jason Rodriguez is a writer and editor whose books have been nominated for an Eisner Award and eight Harvey Awards. Jason lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and their two dogs, four cats, and a parrot. You can usually find him on a street corner, staring out into the future.

Named a 2014 BEA Comic Buzz Book by School Library Journal and Comic Book Resources

Chosen as one of the Top Books of 2014 by GeekDad

Nominated as a Great Graphic Novel for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association

This collection of stories about early New England will appeal to kids of all ages. These fascinating stories concern both well-known and little-known New Englanders, including settlers, slaves and Native Americans. We meet everyone from Anne Hutchinson to Yankee whalers. These engaging tales are beautifully illustrated and grounded in the latest scholarship. Highly recommended for kids of all ages! and#151; Dr. Frank Cogliano, Professor of American History, University of Edinburgh

Jason Rodriguez has edited a visually attractive book that will encourage young readers to acquire a more meaningful understanding of Colonial America's history by helping make the stories come alive.

and#151; Julian L. Lapides, past president, Baltimore Heritage, Inc.

This book is smart, surprising, fun and educational. Each story has its own visual and verbal style but all will delight, intrigue, and enlighten both novice and expert alike. and#151; James David Moran, Director of Outreach, American Antiquarian Society

Rodriguez manages a good balance throughout and#150; from wordless tales to text-heavy historical factoids. From almost comic lighthearted illustrations to woodblock type carvings and beautiful pastel watercolors [...] The stories are interesting enough to read for enjoyment value; but of course, the historical value cannot be understated. Since these are stories that rarely have been told outside of academic circles, there isnand#8217;t any repetition of typical historical discussions about the founding of the colonies. Each story should be quite new to the reader. As well, the length of the stories make this a great book to use as a reading assignment. and#151;Online Eccentric Librarian blog

A beautiful anthology of colonial historical vignettes [...] the book is best suited for middle graders to high school and the book's website is making educator guides for the stories. However, the material is perfectly satisfying to the adult reader and the art is varied and showcases a variety of styles. I found it quite impressive and highly readable. and#151;It's All Comics To Me blog

I was blown away. The stories are presented in varying styles, but always with the emphasis on the storytelling. Each story was crafted out of a surprising amount of information, but never felt, forgive the term, and#147;educational.and#8221; Sure, I learned a lot from reading the book, but it was presented in such an aesthetically pleasing way that it didnand#8217;t feel like I was being tricked into learning, the way so many educational comics do. and#151; Brian Salvatore, Multiversity Comics

In the first of three proposed anthologies, beautifully produced comics reveal the rich, often overlooked

lives of Native Americans, women, and servants in colonial New England. Each of the two dozen

selections is based on primary sources, and most pieces feature individuals whose names can be found

fairly readily elsewhere. Unlike those other resources, however, the selections in this anthology take the

vantage point of more marginalized groups, bringing attention to the people history has tended to view as

mere props to stories featuring white male upper-class settlers. and#151;Booklist

Gr 5 Upand#150;A collection of illustrated stories covering lesser known topics in American colonial history. The first in a series of comics based on underrepresented stories of the time period, the work uses primary and secondary sources, and is told in a way that makes the information accessible to students. All of the entries contain a brief introduction that assumes a basic amount of historical knowledge before presenting the story. Each vignette is short enough to keep the interest of most readers. All of the narratives are excellent, concise, and easy to follow. VERDICT This may find a place in collections where graphic histories and other nonfiction comics are popular. and#150;Suanne B. Roush, formerly at Osceola High School, Seminole, FL for School Library Journal

How do we get kids these days interested in history? One way to do that is through comics like this collection does [...] Each story is fairly short, so if they do not like one story they can quickly move onto the next. Also by being brief it can cover a lot of ground, time wise, in a short amount of space. This book is perfect for those students, and educators, who are in middle school. and#151;Portland Book Review

Artists and Historians:

Joel Christian Gill is the chairman, CEO, president, director of development, majority and minority stock holder, manager, co-manager, regional manager, assistant to the regional manager, receptionist, senior black correspondent, and janitor of Strange Fruit Comics. In his spare time he is the Chair of Foundations at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and member of The Boston Comics Roundtable. He received his MFA from Boston University and a BA from Roanoke College. His secret lair is behind a secret panel in the kitchen of his house (sold separately) in New Boston, New Hampshire where he lives with his wife, four children, talking dog, and two psychic cats.

A graduate of Kings College, Cambridge, with a masters degree from Columbia University, Nick Bunker has had a diverse career in finance and journalism. A former investment banker and reporter for the Financial Times, he now lives with his wife, Susan, in Lincolnshire, England and is the author of the acclaimed book, Making Haste From Babylon.

Philip Hoare is the author of six works of non-fiction including Leviathan or, The Whale (2008), which won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. An experienced broadcaster, Hoare wrote and presented the BBC Arena film The Hunt for Moby-Dick, and directed three films for BBCs Whale Night. He is Visiting Fellow at Southampton University, and Leverhulme Artist-in-residence at The Marine Institute, Plymouth University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011.Read more on his website: http://www.philiphoare.co.uk/.

Virginia Anderson has taught early American history at the University of Colorado, Boulder, since 1985. She is the author of New Englands Generation: The Great Migration and the Formation of Society and Culture in the Seventeenth Century (1992) and Creatures of Empire: How Domestic Animals Transformed Early America (2004). She is also a coauthor of the textbook The American Journey (6th edition, 2011). Her new book project, “The Martyr and the Traitor: Moses Dunbar, Nathan Hale, and the American Revolution,” explores the personal as well as political transformations that shaped individual lives in unexpected ways as the Revolutionary crisis unfolded.

Walter W. Woodward is Connecticut state historian and associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut. He is also the author of Prosperos America, which won 2011 Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Award and was a 2010 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title.

Nate Dimeo is the creator of the Memory Palace podcast. He is the co-author of Pawnee: the Greatest Town in America and was a finalist for the 2012 Thurber Prize for American Humor. He writes elsewhere now and then. He spent a decade or so in public radio. You may have heard him on All Things Considered, or Morning Edition, or Marketplace. He lives in Los Angeles via Providence, Rhode Island.

Christina Rice resides in Los Angeles, CA and besides being a librarian, is the author of Anne Dvorack: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel.

J. L. Bell is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.

JT Waldman is a Digital Designer and Illustrator based in Philly. His last project was illustrating Harvey Pekar's graphic novel, Not The Isreal My Parents Promised Me. You can read more on his blog: http://jtwaldman.com/blog/

David Lewis is a comics scholar focusing on literary theory and religious studies and is the founder of the Caption Box comic book imprint. He is the winner of a Howard E. Day Prize and has been nominated for three Harvey Awards for The Lone and Level Sands.

Noel Tuazon is a storyboard clean-up artist at Nelvana Studios with credits on Bob and Margaret, Grossology, My Friend Rabbit, Pearly, and currently, Scaredy Squirrel. Hes also provided illustrations for Cricket Magazine, the SCBWI Bulletin Magazine, Caryn A. Tates childrens book, Sunny Bear, and three books of poems by condo salesperson, Carolynn Blanchette (Once, We Were, Our Own Shadow). Comic book work includes Elks Run (Villard) and Tumor (Archaia) with writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, and Rafael Nieves Arianne (Moonstone). Tuazons latest graphic novel is Eric Hobbs The Broadcast (NBM) in October 2010. You can read more on his blog: http://noeltuazon.blogspot.ca/.