War as a Posthuman Force: Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Representations in Nathan Hale's Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood

Abstract

I n 2014, Nathan Hale published Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood , the fourth book in Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales , an Eisner-nominated and bestselling comics nonfiction series for middle grade readers. The premise of the series is to tell “the neatest, grossest stories that history has to offer” in an attempt to “entertain more than educate” (Hale, Interview). The title of the series is a pun on the shared name of both the author-artist, whom I will refer to as Hale, and one of the frame narrators, the historical figure Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War hero, who is the subject of the first book of the series, One Dead Spy . In this energetic account of his service as a spy to General Washington, Nathan Hale is captured by the British and sentenced to hang. Standing on the gallows about to die, he is swallowed by a giant history book and then spat out with a comprehensive knowledge of all events in history, both the past and what is to come. He uses this knowledge in a Scheherazade-like manner to stall indefinitely his execution, overseen by the British Provost and a hangman. This trio of somewhat fictionalized characters is the central narrating voice throughout the book and the unifying thread of the series. The first three books are biographies that follow a central (human) historical figure or group of figures, but Treaties departs from this format, embarking on an explanation of the causes and notable events of World War I, such as the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand, battles on the various fronts, and the development of modern weaponry. The most notable point of departure, however, is the use of animals to depict the various national players in the war, a move that alerts Hale’s readers to the possibility that this is not a typical war story, but one that offers an alternative, posthuman reading and reconceptualizing of war and its participants. 1 Using posthumanism as a lens, this essay examines Hale’s use of anthropomorphism and the comics medium as they Anthropomorphic Zoomorphic Representations Blood 57 Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Representations in Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood