The Pride Of Baghdad

The Pride of Baghdad, written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Niko Henrichon, is inspired by a true story. It takes place in Baghdad, Iraq. Baghdad's zoo houses a lion pride of four lions. Zill, the male of the pride, remembers the beauty of the horizon from when he was free in the wild. Safa, the "old lady" lioness, remembers the pain and suffering being free caused her (being raped by a lion and his brothers). Noor, the young mother lioness, remembers the thrill of the hunt where she was able to eat fresh meat, not just a carcass that the keepers threw in their cage. Ali, Noor's young cub, is a rambuncious juvevinlle full of questions about life outside of the zoo.

The story begins with a crow playing Chicken Little, screaming "THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!" An aggitated Zill threatens to eat him if he doesn't shut up. Zill says, "will you shut up? The damn sky is never going to..... fall?"

On the following page we see three American F-16's fly over head.

While Noor has been discussing an escape plan with an antelope in the cage over, the rest of the pride is confussed by the event. The keepers feed them rabbits, a normal meal and they decide that until the keepers show any sign of terror they will go about their usual business. It isn't until the keepers throw them an ass (donkey) that they begin to worry. Why would the keepers throw them such a large meal? As they retreat to the den, afraid something terrible is about to happen, there is a large explosion that sends them flying in different directions. The blast has freed all of the animals.




The pride begins to venture through the streets of Baghdad, in search of food. They are nearly run down by a convoy of American tanks. The tanks leave them frightened, for they are unsure of what kind of animal they may be and surely with the size of them they would be able to hunt and kill the lions for food.



The lions are hungry and ready to eat. The pride happens along an injured boy or teenager and plan to eat him but Safa won't let them because he is like a keeper, and the keepers took good care of them so why should they turn on one now. That is when Noor spots a herd of horses. As the two lioness hunt the horses they end up in a palace. The owner of the palace has kept a lion as a pet, he is scrawny and manged. Noor and Safa thought it was one of the keepers but he tells them no his keeper treated him well. Just then the two come face to face with a huge bear. The bear is the one who has ruined the other lion and he plans to do the same with Noor and Safa. Thankfully Zill (the hero du du dunaaaa) shows up and joins in the fight. Even Ali helps to defeat the bear by chasing after the horses so that they tromple him to death.



"Fireflies!" exclaims Ali.


(I'm sorry the blog was interupted from a phone call... From near Baghdad... it will be completed shortly.)

He runs off and climbs a pile of debris. For the first time in his life he sees the horizon.

As Ali and the rest of the pride admire the horizon Ali's fireflies began to wizz by their heads. Ali's fireflies are really American bullets.
As the US forces advance Safa protects the pride and lunges towards them. The US forces shoot Safa and the rest of the pride.

I really enjoyed reading The Pride of Baghdad. It is a fantastic read for GN lovers and those who don't care for them much. The graphics are extremly well done. I would place them near realistic on the scale. I was going to borrow this GN from the library but I ended up purchasing it at a local comic book store. I am really glad I did. It is something I can read to my son as a bedtime story (when he is a bit older!) and still enjoy myself. I even think my husband, the "anti-comic" man, would enjoy this one. '

Obviously lions don't really talk, however, the dialouge between the lions, and other animals is wonderful. If these animals think in a similar manner to us then I think their thoughts were captured to a "T".

Its hard to decide whos side you are on in the end. I feel terrible for the lions. They didn't know what was going on when they saw the US forces and acted on instinct, causing them to be "brutally murdered" by American troops. However, the troops were protecting themselves and that is important. I guess this is like when you watch Wild E Coyote and the Road Runner. I always felt bad for the Coyote for not catching the Road Runner, but I was always thankful for the Road Runner being safe. Or when you watch the Discovery Channel and a snake catches his prey. You are glad he is fed, but sad that the poor mouse had to die.

Each lion has different memories of the wild. Safa's was the most interesting for me. She was pressured into having sex with a male lion named Bukk who wasn't even from her pride. And then when he was done he said " Like I said it only takes me six seconds to finish... ... but my 'stupid brothers'..." This part broke my heart. I have (as I'm sure many of us have...) heard stories of things similar happening to teenage girls. One guy pressures them, they finally are say ok just get it over with, and then his buddies take their turns. I'm trying to figure out how to say what I am thinking and I'm having difficulty. I guess just that it was interesting how they portrayed it as a rape that could happen in the human race. I know female animals are "taken" against their will, but I don't think I ever viewed it as rape.

I guess that the story this was inspired by was in the news when it happened but I don't recall hearing about it. The last few pages of the novel show an ariel view of the city of Baghdad. On one page it says: In April of 2003, four lions escaped the Baghdad Zoo during the bombing of Iraq. The starving animals were eventually shot and killed by U.S. soldiers. This statement makes me think of the soldiers as terrible people. Thankfully I know better. The follow spread says: There were other casualties as well. Now I know that this was a story of the lions but if I had a friend or loved one that was killed in the same attacks I think I'd be pretty ticked that thats all that was said about them. Maybe I'd be a little more satisfied if Vaughan had included a list of the names of the troops that were killed on that same day.

All in all I give this GN two thumbs up. I couldn't put it down, it isn't very long but the way my life goes, for me to sit down and read anything in one sitting (even a shampoo bottle lol) is pretty much unheard of. I read this book cover to cover twice in a row.

What The Future Holds....

What Iwill be reading for....
Week 6- The Pride of Baghdad
Week 7- Blankets (tentaive...)
Week 8- Maus I and II

Everyone's Mid Terms

Hey guys sorry I haven't posted on everyone's mid terms yet. My internet is down, and I don't live near anybody who's internet I can use. I'm finally getting a chance to get on... I will post the rest of my responses TONIGHT so long as it gets back to working....it should....I have an "appointment" with tech support after class tonight.

Ghost World

Ghost World by Daniel Clowes is about two excentric teenage girls living in New York. They have been best friends for years and know eachother inside and out. They share a "fuck the world and everybody in it" attitude. Enid Coleslaw is our main character and her best friend is Rebecca "Becky" Doppelmeyer. The title of the book comes from graffiti on a garage that says Ghost World. We see it written in different places throughout the book with each new chapter. The girls love things that are out of the norm and just kind of odd. The first reference to this is a horrible comedian that they decide is their God, because he is such a loser. Enid falls in love with a horrible 50's dinner that she thinks is the worst theme dinner ever...and that is exactly why she loves it! The girls have foul mouths that match their foul attitudes. They love to talk about guys and what assholes they are. When Enid's father convinces her to take a placement test to Strathmor, Becky is mortified. She doesn't know what she will do without her best friend and considers following Enid to college. They decided that this might look a little weird and Enid says she wants to go alone anyway. She wants to go alone so that she may re-invent herself. Become someone completely different from who she is, and if Becky goes with her it would be nearly impossible. After all Becky knows everything about her, mainly the things she wants to forget and change. Enid tells Becky that she has always had the dream that when things get boring she is going to just get on a bus to a new town and start all over where no one knows her. Enid was turned down by Strathmor and tells her father she knew she was never smart enough anyway. The second to last page Enid spots Ghost World painted on a fence,the paint is still wet, and then on a wall and tries to catch up with the person who did it, but never does. Which leads us to the final page, we see Enid walking with a small suitcase that looks like a hat box. She stops in front of a restaurant where Becky is seated by the window looking solemn with a drink in her hand. Enid says to her friend (though she can't hear her, and doesn't see her), "You have grown up to be a very beautiful young woman." Then she passes Norman Square (which is a square of pavement with the name Norman scratched in to it nearly a dozen times) and boards a bus. The End.

The theme of Ghost World is finiding one's self (and the smaller themes are teenage summer and friendship). The graphics in this GN are between realistic and iconic. I'd say about 60% realistic and 40% iconic. They are not colored, and not black and white. They are blue and white.

I enjoyed reading this GN. I saw the movie first. YEARS ago. I can't even remember any of it, I just know my mom rented it back when it first came out. Either that or we saw it at a film festival. Whichever it was I know I saw the movie! I could definitely tell that Ghost World was written by a man. Though a lot of women do talk similar to the way the girls were, I just don't think a woman would write that way. One thing I found annoying is that the chapters didn't always match up to the page that the table of contents said they were on. Also the only way to know that you were beginning a new chapter was to see Ghost World at the beginning of the page. There were no titles at the start of each new chapter, you had to look that up in the table of contents, which is when I learned that the pages didn't always match up.

Midterm

Ok before I start I just have to say this is one of the crummiest days ever! So to top my horrible day off I come to my neighborhood which is gated, I drive up to the box where you punch in your code.... and no matter how many freakin times I punch my number in it says it is invalid! Well then, thats great. Not only am I in the truck stuck outside the gate but so is my 11 month old who wants out of his carseat!!! So after about 15 minutes a car pulls up and wants to use the box... so I move out of their way... then circle around to pull behind them... well apparently they didn't like that! They didn't want some woman in a big ass truck following them through the gate so they went as sloooooooow as possible... so if I were to have gone through the gate it would've smashed my truck up. Gee thanks overly cautious jerk. So then probably another 20 or so minutes go by (I've tried the box a million more times... I'm no longer even in the directory!!!) and FINALLY someone else pulls up. Thank goodness! And they were much nicer and let me tailgate them through. All the while though my son is unhappy because he is sick and tired of sitting in his car seat... and I'm cranky coz I need to get home and do my midterm! Well ok so I guess here goes... Oh yeah and I left one of my books at work. Woo freakin hoo. :) Yay for great endings to great days. On top of all that my son has been waking up like every 20 minutes since we did get home... about an hour ago due to teething.... will it ever end???


1)Describe the different art and writing styles of graphic novels you have examined so far. How are the styles similar and/ or different? You must use McCloud and your packet on literary terminology for this answer.

I've only read two GN's to date. Although they are based on the same event they have some major differences in art and writing styles. The art style of The 9/11 Report resembled realistic people and graphics. In The Shadow of No Towers jumped around throughout each spread, going from realistic, to artistic, to very cartoony. The writing styles is where I saw the largest difference. The 9/11 Report discussed facts and gave back ground information on the events leading up to 9/11 including information about the indavidual terrorists. Where as In The Shadow of No Towers was based on the author's (Art Speigleman) point of view from that day. I also found No Towers to be very scatter brained and random (very non linear), but Report was very linear. The 9/11 Report even included time lines of each flight that was hijacked on 9/11.



3)We have examined several controversies in the world of GNs to date (body representation, racial representation, etc). Discuss a controversy that occurs in one of your graphic novel choices. What about the example makes it controversial? Defend or denounce/ agree or disagree with this controversy, providing specific examples.

In the GN In The Shadow of No Towers I didn't notice much racial representation in the art. However, there is a spread where a "crazy" homeless Russian lady is shown yelling at Art Speigleman on his way to and from work. She has always yelled hateful things at him for being a Jew, but always in Russian. After 9/11 she began cursing him in plain English. Accusing him and all other Jews for the events that took place that tragic day.
I'm having a hard time defending or denouncing this event because it is a real event. I'm not saying it was right, because I don't agree with the woman in anyway. But based on what the question states I don't think I can explain what makes it controvesial. Other than it being someone's opinion, somone's wrong opinion. I'm part a little under a quarter Jewish, I had no part in 9/11. Well now we know that no Jews did, that it was Arabs (Al Queda to be exact...). My best friend is Arab, she speaks fluent Arabic, but she had nothing to do with 9/11. It isn't right to wrongly accuse someone for something that someone did just because they are the same color or same race or even same gender.



5)How do graphic novels not only address, but aid/ problematize our understanding of history? Are they even historical texts? Discuss how this representation of history from one of your graphic novel choices fit into the work of other graphic novelists. Are the representations similar/ different?

The 9/11 Report has done a fantastic job on aiding in the understanding of the events of that day, and the events leading up to it. I would consider this GN a historical text, it gave me more information on 9/11 then I think most modern American History textbooks would. Plus it also gave you illustrations to aid in the understanding. I felt like it showed me exactly what I would be trying to picture in my head. The inclusion of time lines, though they may be conceived as a little juvinille, did a fantastic job at showing you what was happening simultaneously with each of the hijacked flights. As you already know The 9/11 Report and In the Shadow of No Towers are based on the same event, the terrorist attacks on our own American soil on 9/11/01. I found their representations to be quite different. The 9/11 Report was more factual versus In the Shadow of No Towers which was more opinion based. They are similar in that they do both tell you that yes plans did crash, and yes sadly many people died.

Ahem

I promise my first two blogs will be up and complete by the weekend! Stupid busy life:) lol

In The Shadow Of No Towers

This GN is about Art Spiegelman's experience on 9/11 and his thoughts there after. He was living in NYC and can remember the day clearly. His daughter was in HS near the base of the towers when they were hit. Frantic he and his wife went to the school and got her out. He discusses the ideas of what may have been the cause of the planes crashing. Spiegelman ran around with chicken little syndrom worring that "the sky is falling" and that the world is coming to an end. A crazy woman that he runs into on his daily route to work has always yelled at him for being a Jew in Russian but after 9/11 she yells at him in English that it is his fault and the Jews doing (the attack on the towers and pentagon).
His original thought for the work was to put it out as a weekly thing, however it took him atleast 5 weeks to create each page and ended up creating a book.
The style of drawing varies greatly throughout the book. I have a hard time saying exactly what catagory it would fall into. Each page seems to be a blend of each.

I really didn't like this GN. To be honest I almost threw it across the room a few times. The only thing that kept me from doing so was closing it and walking away. I am very conservative and it is blatantly obvious that Art Spiegleman is not. But hey I guess to each their own. Aside from his political views the GN was well written and I enjoyed the graphics.
Connections: Art Spiegleman is also the author of Maus I and II and draws himself as a mouse throughout In The Shadow Of No Towers.
The first GN I read was The 9/11 Report (which gets much more of my approval!) and they are connected in the sense of describing what happened on and after 9/11. However, The 9/11 Report is much more factual and this GN was more opinion based.

The 9/11 Report

I have a few minutes to spare before I rush off to my meeting with Craig so I figured I'd post a bit...finally some "free time"!!! I'm going to do my opinion since the book isn't currently with me.

I enjoyed reading The 9/11 Report. I found the background information on the terrorists to be extremely insightful. I knew that Al Queda was "old news", but I don't recall ever hearing about it until after the attacks. I like knowing the big picture and seeing what went into the planning. I can't believe that with all the information we have now, we couldn't stop the attacks from happening. It was also shocking to hear that Clinton had information on Osama and Al Queda and didn't do much about it. He just sort of passed a little on to Bush basically saying "oh yeah watch out for this guy." I found that being given the information in this format made it much easier to understand.... and to not fall asleep while in the middle of it! If the information was in plain black and white, simply letters on a page, I don't think I could've kept my train of thought going long enough to enjoy the information. The spread sheets were great. Though they seemed a little juvenile (which I didn't notice until Craig pointed out!), they did a fantastic job at showing us what was going on on each flight simultaneously.

Oh gotta go!!!