Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary by Christian Perrissin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
How much do you know about Calmity Jane? Do you confuse her with Annie Oakley? Was she at the Battle of Little Big Horn? Did she really merry Wild Bill Hickok?
This graphic novel tries to answer the questions about her life, but she was apparently a good story teller, and much of what we know of her comes from letters she wrote to her daughter, but never sent. The authors used documents that were as close to the sources as they could, since Calimity Jane had many things written about her while she was alive, dime store novels, her own tall tales, that were simply not true. The authors admit that it is hard to figure out what truly happened, but that they are trying to come close, and still tell a good story.
One thing that I didn’t realize is that she only dressed and acted as a man in the beginning, and after that, she dressed in pants, but was known to be a woman.
Interesting read, interesting story of an unusual woman.