Corpse Talk: Queens & Kings

By Adam & Lisa Murphy
Publisher: David Fickling Books
ISBN: 9781788450324

Adam and Lisa Murphy are not resting on their laurels with regards their previous books because here’s another one. Once again it breathes life into the dusty cadaver of history by animating some fascinating figures of the past. This time it’s royalty, going as far back as Ramesses II and covering all sorts of monarchs right up to Queen Victoria. 

And it’s not just European queens and kings that feature. You get to learn about Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, the instigator of the terracotta army, and Saladin, who, as the book puts it, out-crusaded the crusaders. The brief few pages we get with each notable figure works so well because of the interview format, allowing aspects of the person’s life to be focused upon and details picked over, and of course it really gets fun when popular misconceptions are overturned.

I’d argue that pretty much any child of reading age is going to be captivated by these historical tales, but even more so I’d say if you’re an adult interested in history then you’ll lap this up. The strips combine the research and interesting facts with a funny and intelligent approach, so there’s pages and pages of new information to uncover and learn about. 

Quite frankly a genius concept for a comic strip that’s still proving it’s worth to the full.

And if you liked that: Get one of the others!