Obscure Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.
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Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions by Tyler Button with art by Gerry Kissell, Amin Amat and Ryan Cody – Tapestry Comics 2016 - 2018
Contains Spoilers for actual historical events that actually happened
There's probably plenty of interesting places I could start when talking about Tyler Button's two purely historical comics, from the choice of subject matter, to the execution of writing, but in this instance, I'm going to begin talking about the art.
Tyler's works first caught my eye at Harrogate Thought Bubble 2021, where having passed his table a couple of times, I couldn't take my eyes away from the beautifully illustrated artwork. Looking over, my eyes were captivated by the images of medieval soldiers lined up in their vivid amour and brightly coloured tabards. Sharp green fields gave way to the chaotic melee of battle. Swords flashing in the midday sun. I had to check it out.
Trepidation began immediately, however, once I heard Tyler's accent. There's a stereotype, rightly or wrongly, that America is somewhat cavalier in it's attitude to history, no doubt proliferated by Hollywood leaning more to mythologizing the past rather than accurately depicting it. I've travelled far enough around the states to know it's an unfair stereotype, but one that's hard to shake from the unconscious.
Fortunately, it took barely a minute talking to Tyler that made it fundamentally clear that he knew what he was about. A funny, charming guy with a taste for the details, it was obvious his comics would be well worth reading. I picked up A Flower in a Field of Lions, his comic covering the life of Joan of Arc, and would return a year later to Harrogate Thought Bubble 2022 to grab Bayeux, his story of the Norman conquests.
As I've already made clear, the art is stunning in both comics. Vivid and lively, with a sense of action and movement, and most importantly an understanding that medieval fashion could often be bright and colourful, which modern media often shies away from. On the art alone, I'd say the comics are fine pieces of work, but as I already knew from my chat with Tyler, there was going to be more going on under the hood.
When retelling historical events, most adaptions slip the story into simple good guys and bad guys. No thought is given to the Germans getting conquered by Maximus's beloved Rome in Gladiator, no time to consider how the Scottish nobility treated their own peasants in Braveheart. Tyler's storytelling utterly rejects this approach, understanding that there were no 'right' sides in eras of great injustice and oppression, but instead these were periods of transition and shifts in power.
I first encountered this in A Flower in a Field of Lions. Most stories of Joan of Arc depict her as a true hero and liberator of France, cruelly executed by the English invaders. The comic instead, takes a closer look at the messy truth of the matter. France's war had been brought on not by England but the ambitions of Armagnac and Burgundy. Joan herself, far from a messiah, was confused but well intentioned, raised up by a country in need of a unifying icon and then cruelly exploited for the same reasons. England themselves tried to ransom Joan to back to France multiple times only for France to refuse, happy to be rid of what had by then become a nuisance and a liability.
It would be easy for Tyler to slip these stories into nihilistic territory, where everybody sucks and nobody is likeable, but it's a testament to his writing that he doesn't do this. Instead we are shown the character's own priorities. Their pressures and desires, and the choices they are forced to make thank to the values of their time. This is most clearly demonstrated in Bayeux, which could have so easily turned into a story in favour of either the invading William or defending Harold.
I've long said that we've never seen a film about the Battle of Hastings because it's so difficult to reduce that story into the binary of good and bad. Is the story a tragedy, a story of England's last great defeat against French invaders? Or is it a heroic victory, the conquering battle that gave birth to the 'true' English nation and in the long run Britain as a whole?
What Bayeux does is draw inspiration from it's namesake, taking the story further back, exploring the history between William and Harold long before the battle in 1066. Meticulously researched, it covers the rarely discussed relationship between Harold as exile and William as bastard, and through shared experience allows us to understand these characters priorities, and the psychological foibles that their shared history had thrust upon them. Both are charismatic and genuine, and both are equally drawn to war by ego and perceived righteousness.
Both Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions are stellar work, magnetic in their writing and wonderful in their aesthetic. The art by Gerry Kissell and Amin Amat on Baueux and Ryan Cody on A Flower in a Field of Lions brings vivid life to Tyler's writing, and are a perfect fit for the tone the stories are trying to strike. Eminently readable and hard to put down, the books by Tapestry Comics manages to strike that almost impossible balance of being accessible yet nuanced. A towering achievement.
During my chat this year with Tyler, he gave clear indication that he had more stories to tell, and I'm really hoping I'll be seeing more of this past coming in the future.
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Jack Harvey 2022. Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions (c) 2018 Tapestry Comics. Images used under Fair Use.
