Warren Ellis' Crecy

by Warren Ellis and Raúlo Cáceres

Book Overview

An original graphic novel from Warren Ellis and his Apparat line of books A highly trained but under equipped army invades another country due to that country's perceived threat to home security. The army conducts shock-and-awe raids designed to terrify the populace. This army is soon driven to ground, and vastly outnumbered. The English army has to stand and fight, in Crecy, France. On 26 August 1346, modern warfare changed forever. This...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592910408
• ISBN13: 9781592910403
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Avatar Press
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.6" x 10.1"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent

One of the best military history lessons I've ever had and quite enjoyable. As other have mentioned the language is only for readers mature enough to understand the context, similar to the show Deadwood.

Nasty, brutish and short

Another great experiment from Apparat - Ellis retells the Battle of Crecy. One of England's finest hours, and therefore ripe for the gritty, ultra-earthly Ellis treatment. Ellis also specializes in science-based fiction - exploring a new idea or concept to a dramatic fictional conclusion (see: Iron Man - Extremis, his work on the Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ocean, etc...). In this case, he applies that skill towards the revolution in medieval technology and tactics. This isn't science fiction about light speed travel - it is science fiction about the longbow. There are no characters as such, but Crecy is still infused with a certain emotional depth - part national pride, part pure gutsiness. A good, fast, cheap read - Ellis and Apparat have paired together to produce some great work, and this is one of their best.

History given a good old-fashioned goose

Entertaining and informative, but all-too brief, Warren Ellis' "Crecy" is a salty retelling of a 14th Century battle which helped pave the way towards the modern doctrine of total warfare. Narrated directly to the reader by a ribald, cheerfully bigoted English archer, "Crecy" tells the tale of when an English raid into Northern France was met with a powerful French counterattack, and yet the English won the day, through a combination of luck, ruthlessness and French overconfidence. It's a fascinating (and fun) history lesson, but the ending is a bit abrupt. It'd be nice to see more of this from Ellis - perhaps a historically-oriented anthology book, along the lines of Jack Jaxon and Spain Rodriguez? As is, this volume will instantaneously pull you in, but may leave you a bit flat at the end. (ReadThatAgain book reviews)

"I can hit you from here with these..."

Crecy just goes to show you that Warren Ellis is a true master of the comic book/graphic novel medium. Told from a soldier's perspective during the Battle of Crecy, Ellis manages to inject so much information in terms of historical weapon uses and battle techniques that you'll be turning the pages just to see what else you can learn alone. There is an engaging parallel to this generations-ago battle and the current war in Iraq (read Crecy's book description alone to get that), and Ellis' own dark humor is apparent as well. What's even more worth noting about Crecy is the ultra detailed, black and white artwork of Raulo Caceres, whose minor little details in faces and backgrounds are stunning to say the least. If there's any downsides to Crecy, it's that it is very short, and you'll be finished it in no time. Despite that though, there is something about Crecy that leaves a lasting impression, and for Warren Ellis fans, you already know that Crecy is worth picking up.

This is the way to teach history!

Damn, this slim graphic novel was amazingly good. Okay, not amazing. After all, it was written by Warren Ellis, who probably couldn't write badly if he tried. (His novel, Crooked Little Vein, just came out and is also a good read--though utterly different from this.) Ellis's telling of fascinating and revealing details (such as the longbowmen dipping their arrowheads in the latrine so that wounded targets would die of some 'orrible medieval excremental disease) reminds me a bit of the wonderful book, An Underground Education. The soldier's-perspective narrative brings the ugly 14th century to life and effectively puts the reader right there in the midst of the action. Okay, look, it's 1:00am here in Austin and I've had a couple of shots of vodka, so I'm not going to attempt to convey any details. Just BUY this book and enjoy it (in the not-always pleasant sense of "enjoy"). A guy who can write Crecy *as well as* Ultimate Galactus, Fell, The Authority, Planetary, and Orbiter (to name just a few), is not one whose latest svelte and svperb work you should miss.