Mata Hari

Book excerpt: This book explores the life of the controversial and historical figure, Mata Hari -- the exotic dancer, convicted double agent, and original femme fatale--told from her own perspective. It collects the five-issue series and includes additional historical material and an artist's sketchbook. Dancer. Courtesan. Spy. Executed by a French firing squad in 1917. One hundred years on from her death, questions are still raised about her conviction. Now, the lesser-known, often tragic story of the woman who claimed she was born a princess, and died a figure of public hatred, with no one to claim her body is told by break-out talent writer Emma Beeby (Judge Dredd), artist Ariela Kristantina (Insexts), and colorist Pat Masioni drawing on biographies and released MI5 files We meet Mata Hari in prison at the end of her life as she writes her memoir--part romantic tale of a Javanese princess who performed "sacred" nude dances for Europe's elite, and part real-life saga of a disgraced wife and mother, who has everything she loves taken from her. But, as she sits trial for treason and espionage, we hear another tale, of a flamboyant Dutch woman who became "the most dangerous spy France has ever captured"--a double agent who whored herself for secrets, lived a life of scandal and loved only money. Leading us to ask . . . who was the real Mata Hari?