Personally, I think he suffered from schizophrenia but he was brilliant and charismatic and he was the right person at the right time. Manitoba even has a holiday named for him. Now he is acknowledged as the father of Manitoba and a hero for Metis rights. Around the 1950's or 1960's a transformation in how he was perceived occurred. And long after his death by hanging there were probably as many people in one camp as in the other. Louis Riel was either adored or reviled while he lived. He also said he was inspired by Little Orphan Annie which I couldn't really see. I liked the graphic style which reminded me of TinTin comics, which Brown acknowledges as one of his sources of inspiration. I would certainly recommend that people read them but you'll have to choose whether to read them as you go through the book or, as I did, after finishing the book. Reading those notes were almost as interesting as the book itself. Brown is upfront about the fact that he took some liberties with the truth but he has copious notes at the back that show where he changed things and why he did so. My book club decided to read it for December 2011 to see how we felt about this format. This is only the third graphic novel for me.
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