“Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy” (10 out of 10 stars) Nathan Hale. Hardcover graphic novel, 128 pages. Published by Amulet Books, 2012.
I’ve been a fan of Nathan Hale’s for a while. Nathan Hale the author and illustrator, not the patriot, although you could be pardoned the confusion. I loved his illustrations for the graphic novels “Rapunzel’s Revenge” and “Calamity Jack,” and his picture book “Yellowbelly and Plum” was one of my sons’ favorites. Hale’s current series has moved him to the top of my list.
In 2012 Nathan Hale and Amulet Books started a series of graphic novels based on American History, under the banner (literally) “Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.” The first book in the series is “One Dead Spy,” and it and the following books are interesting, easy to follow, and downright entertaining. I’m buying every one of them.
“One Dead Spy” is about Nathan Hale (the patriot), executed in 1776, at the very beginning of the American Revolution. The 128-page hardcover comic begins with Manhattan in flames, and a whistling Hangman bringing a noose to a gallows. He shoos a bald eagle away, and prepares Nathan Hale to be hanged. They’re soon joined by a British Officer, and these three will be the narrators for the rest of the book. Given an omniscient overview of American History, Hale sees what the destiny of the country is, and even though things look grim for the colonists (and more especially for Hale personally) in September 1776, he knows that there’s a brighter future. He proceeds to tell the Hangman and British Officer all about the American Revolution, focusing on the first year, and Hale’s role in it.
Nathan Hale makes a good narrator for the years 1775-76, and his path crosses with the likes of George Washington, Henry Knox, Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, General Howe and other notable heroes and villains of American History. The author uses these interactions to tell the key events of the revolution, including the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, the Battle of Bunker Hill (and Breed Hill), the Boston Massacre, and the Declaration of Independence. He leaves a lot of things untold, telling more of his tales in future volumes, but gives us enough information to make this book a solid read.
As a parent, a history teacher, a geek, and a promoter of graphic novels, I frigging love this series. I enjoy the humor and the menace in One Dead Spy—even as the Hangman provides comic relief, you can’t forget that the real narrator, Nathan Hale, was executed. Some of the humor is in asides, some is in telling the truths of history that are often left out of the dry history books. The illustrations are cartoony but excellent, with no confusion about who’s who in the course of the story. Hale (the author) also doesn’t shy away from telling us when people suffered and died, making this more mature reading than you might expect. I loved it.