Gene Luen Yang is rightly called a master of the comics form, and this book will cement that reputation.

It offers a penetrating insight into not only one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history, but into the very core of our human nature. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity.īoxers & Saints is one of the most ambitious graphic novels First Second has ever published. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful.īut in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. The Boxer Rebellion was not only an important moment in Chinese and British history, but it is also significant because of its effect on world history generally. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. Gene Luen Yang’s diptych, Boxers & Saints, collects two pieces of historical fantasy set in China during the Boxer Rebellion. I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the Yang’s latest work at NYCC. In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. Their recent release, Boxers & Saints by the incredible Gene Luen Yang, had been nominated for a National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, becoming the second graphic novel in the history of the awards to be selected as a finalist.

Saints gene luen yang