Graphic novels are a peculiar genre of literature. As far as proponents of the great canon of English literature are concerned, they’re just books with pictures or at most, highbrow comics. Until fairly recently, I had never read one.
However, I had Waterstone’s vouchers burning a hole in my pocket and decided that now was the time to give one a go. Usually my whims end in getting a takeaway or treating myself to a packet of hobnobs, but this one has ended in my discovery of a whole new way of reading.
One of my most rewarding finds has been the sub-genre of ‘political graphic novels.’
This phrase might conjure up dystopian images of novels such as Watchmen and V for Vendetta, however I have discovered a whole range of biographically political novels, narrating personal stories from the Gulf War to the Holocaust. The Complete Maus tells the story of author Art Spiegelman’s father and his experiences in Nazi Poland. The novel exemplifies the blurring of reality and imagination that the genre so easily allows. Spiegelman turns the Jews into mice, the Poles into pigs and the Nazis into cats, visually encapsulating the ‘cat and mouse’ chase of the Holocaust.
Another brilliantly simple and incredibly moving example of a political graphic novel is Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, which charts the story of her own childhood and adolescence amidst the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution.There were so many wonderful things that struck me about the novel and have stayed with me since. The content of the novel itself gives vital context to much of the Iranian perceptions to which the Western world still adheres. It gives a much needed personal approach to questions of religion, nationality and identity in times of war.
Persepolis is also a mind-bogglingly easy read. This is not to suggest that it is not incredibly powerful or moving, but simply that the engaging graphics absolutely captivate the reader – you will be at page 100 before you’ve even drawn breath.
If you have never read a graphic novel before or have always been sceptical about the genre in general, try a political one. Not only will you be stunned by the beauty of the graphics and their narrative power, but you’ll also learn something.