This engaging and informative illustrated story explores the 17th-century thinkers who laid the foundations of modern philosophy and science and ushered in the modern era. They dared to challenge authority, facing exile, imprisonment, and even risking their lives for their worldview. 'Heretics!' is a unique way to explore the birth of modern thought, presented in comic book form—smart, sweet, and funny. These restless and controversial philosophers—from Galileo and Descartes to Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Newton—fundamentally changed our views of the world, society, and ourselves, challenging the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe and the notion that kings derive their authority from God. More adherents of reason than faith, these thinkers championed new perspectives on nature, religion, politics, knowledge, and the human mind. 'Heretics!' recounts their ideas, lives, and era in a completely new light. Following his heroes across Europe in a traveler's carriage or an exile's wagon, the narrator describes their encounters and heated debates, as well as conflicts with religious and royal authorities. He recounts key events in the history of philosophy: the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno for heresy, the house arrest of Galileo for defending the Copernican theory, Descartes' proclamation of the cogito ergo sum, Hobbes's view of human life in the state of nature as 'gloomy and bestial,' and the scandal surrounding Spinoza's Theological-Political Tractate. A brilliant account of one of the most brilliant periods of philosophy, The Heretics! is the story of how a group of courageous thinkers, through reason and evidence, triumphed over religion, royal absolutism, and outdated views.