Trotsky - A Graphic Biography [2009] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Trotsky - A Graphic Biography [2009]

Rick Geary does this 100-page biography of  Russian leader Leon Trotsky, published by Hill & Wang, a prominent publisher of history books which has had a small line of mostly non-fiction comics over the last two decades, including several other biographies. Geary also did one of longtime corrupt FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.

If you're familiar with Geary's most famous work, the TREASURY OF (VICTORIAN)(XXth CENTURY) MURDER series (16 volumes to date, 1987-2016), then you know what to expect, well researched history of the topic, mostly told through captions with occasional dialogue, telling a complex story in a nice clean and casual manner, backed up by some excellent cartooning in Geary's unique style.

I'm not really too familiar with this history, any classes I had focused on Canadian and American history, and were also more years than I care to admit ago. So I only had the basics of the Russian Revolution and subsequent rise of the USSR, which was obviously a lot more complex than what I read about. I found it fascinating to read about it through the lens of this one key participant, seeing just how long it percolated, through various plots and plans ending in jail or exile, until the eventual outcome. Which was followed by more plots and plans and exile, of course.

Obviously I only got this because it's Geary, not any real interest in the subject matter, but I came out kind of curious to find out more. Maybe not enough to read an actual history book, but maybe if there's a documentary or something on the topic...