Re-visiting the Warrior: Gord Hill’s The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book

27 Sep 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

Re-visiting the Warrior: Gord Hill’s The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book
Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010
review by Lisa Myers

500 Years of Resistance, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Gord Hill, celebrates a history of resistance against colonialism from the perspective of Indigenous warriors of the Americas. This past July marked the 20th anniversary of Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) resistance to the proposed construction of a golf course and resort over their sacred lands and burial sites, known through mainstream media as The Oka Crisis. Thoughts of the summer of 1990 evoke mixed memories of tension, conflict and a coming together as activists on reserves and in urban centres demonstrated in support of the Kanien’kehaka of Kahnesatà:ke. The anniversary provides an apt backdrop for the launch of this graphic novel and gives impetus for discussion of the concept of warrior.

As an activist and artist from the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation with Tlingit and Scottish ancestry, Gord Hill opens the book with a preface that emphasizes the history of Indigenous resistance as a counter-narrative to the history taught in schools and portrayed through the media. Using comic illustrations and minimal text, Hill provides a context and backstory that aims to inspire political awareness and resistance in response to current neocolonial oppression. Activist and scholar Ward Churchill adds additional stories in his introductory essay Reflections on Gord Hill’s 500 Years and the Nature of Indigenous Resistance, asserting the importance of knowing the past to strategize for the future.

Hill’s illustrated chronology spans the years 1492 to 1995 and portrays Indigenous people on lands from South America to North America. The extensive range of dates, regions and people represented in this comic demonstrate the two years of research Hill undertook in writing and illustrating this book. Each historical event has its own section and includes a small map of the region. Using text, Hill concisely describes the core of each conflict and emphasizes the dates of events to convey the legacy of Indigenous resistance. The drawings are rich with texture and depth. He renders the figures’ faces with stoic and stern expressions, paying particular attention to detail in architecture and clothing — most evident in his depiction of the Mexican Eagle Warrior. To underscore extreme injustices the illustrations portray graphic and brutal aspects of violent clashes between European and Indigenous people.

The warrior resistance represented in this graphic novel includes more than 20 battles including the 1553 attack on a Spanish fort in southern Chile by the Mapuche led by Lautaro, and the 1850s battles between the U.S. Cavalry, led by Custer, against Crazy Horse and thousands of Lakota warriors. While Hill’s project focuses on a particular version of resistance, it overlooks the multiplicity of stories that depart from the warrior persona. Acts of resistance like the retention of Indigenous languages in the face of punishment and trauma, or Anishinaabe women peacefully protesting against a dump site to prevent the pollution of ground water, all have a “fighting spirit” and take courage and sometimes kindness to achieve the desired outcome.

Hill’s choice of the comic book medium is itself a form of resistance, as the origins of political and social realism in graphic novels can be traced back to the underground comic books that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s. The comic book as an artistic medium gave political and adult subject matter a covert form from which to disseminate ideas and information. In making 500 Years of Resistance Hill creates an important contribution to the growing genre of historical graphic novels like Louis Riel, Maus and Persepolis, which give perspectives on history that are largely underrepresented. Hill’s The 500 Years of Resistance underlines the significance of creating connections between the histories of Indigenous people in resisting colonialism.

Lisa Myers makes art, cooks and plays music, all while working towards her Master of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial Practice at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Related posts:

1. Arts, Activism and the Academy: Resistance is Fertile
2. 25 Years Into the Future: EMMEDIA’s Expanded Standard Timeline