History Comics [First Second]
The Challenger Disaster: Tragedy In the Skies - Pranas T. Naujokaitis
A thorough, informative look at the 1986 Challenger disaster, from the first plans to start up a shuttle program to the day of the tragedy itself and its aftermath. The author uses the conceit of setting the story in 2386, on a space station orbiting Mars. Four children have been tasked with a report on the Challenger disaster on its 400th anniversary. While they have quirks, the kids are rather two-dimensional (the serious student, the nerd who gets sick at virtual reality, the slacker, etc). I'm not sure how much the kid characters (or the future setting) add to its readability, but possibly it's a good hook to keep children readers interested. The art is somewhat more cartoony than I like for something this technical, detailed, and, let's face it, somber. But the information is good, and presented very clearly. [3.5]
The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery - Chris Schweizer
An entertaining and comprehensive investigation into the famous lost colony. narrated by two historical Native Americans, Manteo, a Croatan, and Wanchese, a Roanoke, who traveled to England and eventually became, respectively, a friend and an enemy to the invaders. It's absolutely fascinating reading; I didn't know half this stuff, or maybe had forgotten. Schweizer doesn't spare the reader the atrocities that the English inflicted on the inhabitants, and ends the book with some plausible-sounding theories about what may have happened to the colonists (backed up by some hearsay evidence). He also includes some rather fanciful theories involving aliens, which I thought was odd until I looked up some of the "sky battles" reported in 1561 and afterwards. He even includes some ideas on why Simon Fernandes may have been a traitor to the expedition, or (Rashomon-style) not. Great art and superb story-telling. [5]
The Wild Mustang: Horses of the American West - Chris Duffy
An extremely thorough and well-researched examination of the importance, use, and history of the American wild horse. Told by a Pueblo-looking horse figure to a couple of Pueblo-looking humanoid figures, it covers an astounding amount of information, from the proto-horses of prehistory, to Apache raids on horses, to Wild Horse Annie's grassroots efforts to save horses, to modern-day protections of mustangs on public lands. Duffy is an accomplished writer with a breezy, witty style, and Falynn Koch, the artist, brings his words to life with truly beautiful horses, landscapes, ships, and so on. A really superb summary that should be on the shelf of anyone interested in American history. [5]
