Blood Upon the Rose: Easter 1916: The Rebellion That Set Ireland Free

by Gerry Hunt

The rebellion that set Ireland free, told as a graphic novel. The 1916 Easter Rising was an attempt by a small group of militant Irish republicans to win independence from Britain. It was the most significant rebellion in Ireland. Though a military failure, it set Ireland on the road to freedom from Britain. The book covers the story from the early planning to the final executions and includes the tragic romance between Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford. Following on from the success of political graphic novels such as Maus and Persepolis, this is accessible, informative and insightful history at its best.

Genres: History, Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Irish Literature, Graphic Novels Comics, Ireland

48 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

Reviews

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1435920.html

I was very interested to hear about this treatment of the 1916 Rising as a graphic novel, combining as it does two of my interests. I am afraid I was disappointed with the result. My political sympathies are in any case closer to the dispassionate analysis of Charles Townshend, but I don't think this books will change anyone's mind about the Rising - it may perhaps confuse them with detail (one rather small map is provided at the very end), but the reader is basically assumed to be familiar with the big picture of the story. Compared, say, with Pekar and Roberson's Macedonia, let alone the brilliant work of Joe Sacco, Hunt doesn't really probe very far into the human side of the conflict - British soldiers are anonymous snarls, the civilians who mock and disobey the rebels merely rabble; only the rebels themselves are given full hagiographical treatment, including curiously iconic depiction of their faces taken from the classic photographs. The central narrative is framed by Grace Gifford's wedding to Joseph Plunkett the night before his execution, but we find out little about him and nothing about her (which is a little ironic considering her later very successful career as a cartoonist). An interesting experiment, but not a completely successful one.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this graphic novel on a trip to Ireland a few years ago, and finally picked it up to read it through. Although this narrative is an interesting and specific account of a particularly important battle in the history of Irish independence, I found the lack of overall context really detracted from my understanding of what was going on. As someone who is not Irish and is pretty unfamiliar with Irish history, I could have used even a cursory introduction to what led up to the battle, what brought this group of volunteers together under the Rebellion, and even a line or two about the political context that made this uprising possible. This novel also could have used a stronger story-telling aspect...it very much reads like a timeline: this happened then this happened then this happened. I’m sure that this was a very emotionally-charged and volatile time, but that didn’t come through much at all.

[Padraic Ó Broin · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have an interest in Irish history at this point; it may be of interest but one would need to be familiar with the events of East 1916 for it to make much sense. it jumps from point to point and character to character with very little connection in between.

It's very short, lacks a lot of nuace and was biases from the point of view of the volunteers.

I can accept the lack of nuance as it's a short graphic novel, but one point in particular irked me. During the Rising,the British soldiers were 'duped' into thinking there were at least 100 men on the roof of City Hall. The subtle implications is the Britis were foolhardy and arrogant and we're outsmarted by the witty and quick thinking rebels; the author failed to show highlight how the volunteers completely miscalculated the low numbers of British soldiers holding Dublin Castle. Theyxhad the capability to overtake the castle despite it's vastly reduced garrison. This led to the failure of the Rising and would have had a massive impact on outcomes had it been taken.

A final note on the end, de Valera was initially sentenced to be killed but Maxwell was summoned to Westminister and orders were altered as it was becoming evidence that the executions were turning public opinion. It's since been debunked that de Valera was given a pardon due to his American birth.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short graphic novel about the events of the Easter Rebellion that sparked the Irish War of Independence. There's no larger context and it is largely limited to the events of the 5 days after Easter in Dublin of 1916, from the Irish Volunteers point of view. The art is gorgeous, and largely sticks to the minute by minute details and military debates and decisions, rather than anything leading up to the battle.

What always struck me about the Easter Rebellion is how the "masses" of Dublin were at first annoyed or angry at the Sein Feiners (or "Shiners") but eventually turned to sympathy because of the incredibly high handedness of the British, including random executions of civilians and indiscriminate bombings of the city (to the point where some British soldiers at first thought they were on the Western Front of France), and then finally the quick executions of the surrendered leaders of the Easter Rising.

A very quick read and accepting for what it is, the foundational event for Irish Republicans, romanticized in the 100 years+ since its occurrence.

[Tess Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that it should have been longer, fleshing out parts of the history of what happened. It’s difficult to keep track of who the characters are (besides Joe Plunkett- glasses) because they are all drawn so similarly. And the story jumps around, almost so much so that each frame is it’s own moment in time, not something connected to the ones that came before or after.

It’s hard to find media that has really done a proper in-depth study of Irish history, and unfortunately this is no exception. I’ll still read the others, just wish it had been more detailed, more of a storyline.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, quick synopsis of the most important week in the history of the Republic, centered around Joseph and Grace Plunket’s quick marriage prior to his execution. It gives more detail than the song “Grace” but less than Lorcan Collins’ walking tour or the “16 Lives” series of biographies of the executed leaders or the Seachtain na Cásca docuseries. Highly recommend Seán O’Casey’s play The Plough and the Stars if you want a street level view of this week.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story, but too much crammed into such a short volume, and generic-looking characters and backgrounds, made it very difficult to sort out who was who and what was happening. Also, there are constant references to the GPO, without EVER explaining what that was. (Thank you, Google and Wikipedia!) Honestly, I got more from the Wiki article on this.

[Cassie G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m so confused...

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a description of what actually happened during the Easter Rising, this is pretty solid and detailed. But it's oddly bloodless for a graphic novel supposedly about the Irish quest for freedom. I don't mean bloodless in that no violence or blood is depicted (though this isn't gory), but I mean that there's virtually no explanation of why this uprising should take place at all. There's no national context or discussion of the history of Ireland under British rule, the oppression of the Irish people, the revolutionary ideologies that informed the leadership, etc. There's also no individual contexts about who these leaders are or what motivated them. So, if you don't already have a sense of who people like Connolly, Clarke, or Pearse are, then this book will do little to tell you. If what you're interested in is things like troop movements and where the fighting occurred, this is your book. But if you want to know why, then this doesn't really delve into that.
https://youtu.be/_xERS3_FTrI

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vietin viime keväänä kaksi mainiota viikkoa Skotlannissa, Pohjois-Irlannissa ja Irlannissa. Reissun aikana kiinnostuin entisestään Irlannin historiasta, ja kun löysin Dublin Writers Museumin kirjakaupasta kiinnostavan näköisen sarjakuvan, Gerry Huntin käsikirjoittaman ja piirtämän "Blood Upon the Rosen" (O'Brien Press, 2012), täytyi se hankkia myös omaan hyllyyn.

Sarjakuva käsittelee Irlannin itsenäistymiseen johtanutta pääsiäiskapinaa vuonna 1916, jolloin alimittainen vapaaehtoisten joukko nousi Dublinissa kapinaan tavoitteenaan julistaa Irlanti itsenäiseksi - tai ainakin luoda kipinä myöhemmälle nousulle. Englantilaiset kukistivat urhoollisesti taistelleiden irlantilaisten kansannousun verisesti, ja sen merkittävimmät johtajat teloitettiin Kilmainhamin vankilassa.

Gerry Hunt on saanut kaikki suuren tarinan tarvittavat ainekset, mutta ei onnistu käyttämään niitä hyväkseen. Sarjakuvassa kerrataan hengettömästi historiallisten tapahtumien kulku, mutta tekijä ei saa puhallettua henkilöihin minkäänlaista kipinää, vaikka esimerkiksi Joseph Plunkett olisi hahmona ollut mitä herkullisin käsiteltävä.

Sarjakuva ei myöskään ole erityisen hyvin piirretty, ja henkilöhahmot näyttävät melko tönköiltä. Historian pikakertaukseksi sarjakuva kelpaa, vaan eipä oikein mihinkään muuhun. Puolitoista tähteä pyöristyy nyt yhdeksi.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blood Upon The Rose is quite short & tries to cram a lot into this pictorial re-telling of a defining moment in Irish history. Most likely, its readers will be familiar with the story & characters, so it should provide an interesting visual recap of the events of Easter, 1916. It certainly helped to jog my memory about the birth of the Irish Republic & even made me want to check out some aspects in more depth. Unfortunately, Hunt tries to cover too much in too few pages & I wasn't impressed enough by the artwork to dwell on the images any longer than I had to. Nevertheless, I'm sure a lot of time & effort were put into this publication & it's certainly worth reading it to prove me wrong.

[Siobhán Mc Laughlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sounded great - a graphic novel about the Easter Rising. But it's much too short to make a decent stab at the story and fleshing out the characters. And what's worse - I could detect the whiff of bias in its seeming glorification of the rebels. (After studying the Rising intricately I know bias when I smell it...! Maybe it's because the author's father fought in the Rising...)

Expected much more. If this is a way of introducing the events of the Rising to a younger audience - then it will fail, as you definitely need to be familiar with the story for this slick skimming over of it.

[Seamus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short and that, perhaps, is part of the problem. Author takes broad assumptions in that the reader should already possess a decent familiarity with the events that transpired before reading. Decent artwork and storyline, but no real "meat" to the characters.