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.

Australian Comics ‘Buy’ List for Libraries (CCV19)

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The 2019 Comic Con-versation Library Festival (CCV) is from the 8-21st July in Sydney, and I have the Australian Comics buy list for participating libraries! These are all Australian graphic novels that are registered with Australian library suppliers.

Click here to download the full list, and for more information on CCV19. This year, the list was split into two due to numerous entries – the “main” list, which is awards-driven and based on art quality and the need to promote new artists, and the “additional” list.