Author: Queenie Chan

Elizabeth 1– Locations – SOURCES

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The locations in the comic were not easy to research, not least because many of the palaces Elizabeth lived in no longer exist today. Greenwich palace, where Elizabeth was born, was demolished; Whitehall palace, where Elizabeth spent a lot of time in, was mostly demolished in a fire; Richmond palace, where Elizabeth died, was also mostly demolished. Surviving palaces, such as Windsor Castle, Hatfield House and Hampton Court, all fell into disrepair after her reign (especially in the Oliver Cromwell era), and so look little like they originally did today.

Here is an image of Chelsea Manor, where Elizabeth spent a portion of her teenage years with her stepmother Catherine Parr. The history of Chelsea Manor and the image comes from this British Landownership Records, but the image itself is of the rear side of the Tudor manor, and shows 17th Century additions that did not exist in Elizabeth’s time. All in all, not a reliable depiction of the original, and the building no longer exists today.
Hatfield House is where Elizabeth spent her time after she left Catherine’s manor, and where she first received news of her accession to the throne. Hatfield house is actually much larger than this–most of it was demolished. while this picture from ElizabethI.org only shows the banquet hall.
Elizabeth riding to see her half-sister Mary 1, and here is the gate of Anne Boleyn at Hampton Court Palace from Wikipedia.
Since there are very few historic buildings in England that still has period-era Tudor architecture, most existing references are recreations such as this Henry VIII bedchamber from Hever Castle. We know from locations such as Hardwick Hall, an Elizabethan country manor, that Tudors favour extensive wood-panelling everywhere, so much of the backgrounds in this comic have a lot of wood panelling even as it’s not entirely historically accurate.
We have no true idea of what Elizabeth’s ships looked like in the battle against the Spanish armada since so many were retrofitted merchant ships, but here is a recreation the Mary Rose, which is a carrack-type warship from the reign of Henry VIII. While not accurate to Elizabeth’s navy, this is a raised shipwreck that last saw action in 1545, about 40 years before the Spanish battle, and so carries a fair amount of Tudor accuracy even as it’s inaccurate to Elizabeth’s time.
The tomb of Elizabeth 1, which is located in Westminister Abbey in the Chapel of Henry VIII. There’s multiple renditions of this (from the British Museum), and it exists in modern times, so it was pretty easy to find references of it.
  • Some of the remaining sources come from the movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007) starring Cate Blanchett, and while some scenes are fairly accurate such as Elizabeth’s coronation, a fair amount of this movie is inaccurate both in plot and in the background details.
  • The movie’s depiction of Robert Dudley’s betrayal of Elizabeth is particularly irritating, because while Robert wasn’t entirely “faithful” to Elizabeth (having secretly married more than once after his wife’s death), he seemed loyal to her until his death and never seemed to have ever considered rebellion.
  • The movie’s depiction of Elizabeth’s sexual “adventures” was even stranger. Due to Elizabeth’s traumatic early life experiences with childbirth and marriage involving her father’s wives, she probably had a fair amount of body horror relating to both of these things. Being a king’s daughter and potential heir to the throne also meant that she knew her body was also never truly hers, and that any mere suggestion of pregnancy is instantly a political affair, and may endanger her life and her claim to the throne. Coupled with the fact that she was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting and councillors almost 24/7 makes the suggestion of any kind of physical affair unlikely.

Women’s History Month: Wu ZETIAN

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“Born a commoner, became a concubine, and died as China’s only female Emperor.”

Buy the book (free shipping in Aust/US):  https://queeniechan.com/shop/
Read sample:  https://queeniechan.com/history/wuzetian/

NB. For #WHM, I also did a guest post on this series for Gillian Pollack.

“Women History Month” may highlight lots of historical women, but we are all limited in our celebration by who we have heard of, rather than who is actually out there. “Famous queens” may be a perennially popular subject, but there are still many capable female rulers out there who are household names in their own culture only, and are rarely known outside of them. Wu Zetian is one such personage–there probably isn’t a Chinese child who doesn’t know who she is, but mention her name outside her nation and you’re more likely to be met with blank stare.

Not that she doesn’t have the tendency to appear in unexpected places. As a child who immigrated to Australia as a child, my first exposure to Australian television was actually not anything in English on the commercial channels, but through a Hong Kong-produced TV serial on the life of Wu on SBS. Having been ripped from my place of birth and plonked into a country where I couldn’t speak the language, I found myself glued to the TV every Wednesday, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Cantonese-speaking wonder woman and alleviate the awful homesickness I was feeling at the time.

I walked away from those difficult times with a healthy appreciation of Wu as a historical outlier, but it wasn’t until decades later that I was able to do her life justice by writing and illustrating a graphic novel biography about her. As part of a Masters of Research thesis at MQU (which received a high distinction), I was able to render her story in full technicolour glory, and make her book #2 in my well-received historical biography series “Women Who Were Kings” (Ages 10+). Along the way, I got to correct many of the historical inaccuracies regarding her life, whether it’s from condescending Confucian scholars, or from TV producers looking to exploit sexual scandal and violence.

When I finished the graphic novel “Wu Zetian: Women Who Were Kings” #2, Chinese people swooped down on it at cons. A few non-Asians also expressed interest, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise–if Hatshepsut #1 proved that people were interested in politically powerful women, Wu Zetian #2 proved that people need not have heard of the queen before to be interested. As before – the book is now available to be ordered from Scholastic (for schools) and James Bennett/ALS (for libraries).

Naturally, a book #3 will be forthcoming. This next queen is certainly one that everyone has heard of, and for those interested, you can follow me and the results of my journey here on my blog.

Women’s History Month: HATSHEPSUT

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“The first great woman in history of whom we are informed.” – Egyptologist Henry Breasted

Buy the book (free shipping in Aust/US):  https://queeniechan.com/shop/
Read sample:  https://queeniechan.com/history/hatshepsut/

History buffs such as myself (and hopefully you) are in abundance, but unfortunately, graphic novels that scratch that itch are not. When comic book writers and artists are given full permission to produce work in a medium where there are no limits to one’s imagination, most tend to aim for the whimsical and the fantastical. Others tend to plumb their more personal moments, or the lives of those around them for inspiration. People who look to the past, and especially those who try to do so with an objective eye for factual details, are not common. When it comes to the distant past of those from cultures halfway around the world, there’s even less.

But why shouldn’t a comic book writer/artist create what they want, but don’t see on the shelves? That’s how many a niche genre was started, after all. Why shouldn’t I combine my personal interests – ancient history, political intrigue, powerful women, compelling real-life stories — and make something that I want to read? I’ll finally have an excuse to educate myself about famous women I’ve always wanted to know more about, and will even be able to share my knowledge with curious readers of all ages in a tightly-paced, sumptuously-illustrated, 32-page package. And thus, the graphic novel series “Women Who Were Kings” (Ages 10+) was born.

Choosing “HATSHEPSUT”, the greatest of all female pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, to be the first queen in my journey to catalogue the lives of awesome queens everywhere was quite easy. She, the most foremost of noble ladies, was simply the first we know of – heralding from 3500 years from before our time. Filling in the gaps of her life wasn’t easy, since her legacy was erased after her death, but she left an indelible mark on Ancient Egyptian life and culture that is still visible over several millennia later. Besides, the ancient Egyptians were the most stylish of ancient civilisations, and no one is going to turn down being able to draw it in full-colour glory.

When I finished the graphic novel “Hatshepsut: Women Who Were Kings” #1, it proved to be fairly popular. Perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising: the public are interested in powerful and interesting women from antiquity – they just have to be presented in a way that engages them. Other people seem to agree with this sentiment – the book is now available to be ordered from Scholastic (for schools) and James Bennett/ALS (for libraries).

These positive results gave me confidence about the series, and I now have a list of queens whose lives I plan to work through. You can follow me and the results of my journey here on my blog.

Other Books in 2019

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I’ve had two other books come out in 2019, both of which are “anthologies that I contributed to.

  • “The SuperAustralians” ( 978-1-925-95631-3 ) is edited by my friend Chris Sequeira, and is a mass collaboration between dozens of Australian writers and artists. From TFGW Publishing and Black House comics, it’s an action adventure with twelve Australian superheroes standing against twelve menaces in every state, and I illustrated the “Cosmosia” section.
  • “Women’s Manga in Asia and Beyond” (978-3-319-97228-2) is a collection of academic essays edited by my friend Professor Fusami Ogi, about how women create manga outside of Japan. I contributed a paper on “comics-prose” to this, and this was published by Palgrave MacMillan.