Boxers

From the Publisher:

China,1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.

Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils."

Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils" - Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity.

Boxers & Saints is an innovative new graphic novel in two volumes - the parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of a violent rift. American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang brings his clear-eyed storytelling and trademark magical realism to the complexities of the Boxer Rebellion and lays bare the foundations of extremism, rebellion, and faith.

My thoughts:

The magic realism seems to make this a familiar graphic novel from Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese), however, what I felt was missing was the point of view, a kind of moral center, from the author. Instead, he gives the readers a "clear-eyed" story of the Boxer Rebellion as told by the losers, and one young warrior, Little Bao. 

Anytime we are able to read stories from those that are silenced in our history books, it is a political act on the part of the author and the publisher. I appreciate that. What I was not really ready for, though, and I am not sure why, is the complexity of a story where both sides do evil things to innocent people. There are no heroes in the story, and despite the magistrate talking about what a negative impact the women bring to corrupt the balance in society, I feel like the women in this story held the moral center, but none of the power.