Comics as Contemporary Literature

For this week I read Pride of Bagdad, a graphic novel that I had read once before in high school and enjoyed immensely. When I read it the first time, I was only just beginning to discover graphic novels as a form of real literature. I remember that it really resonated with me. I never thought comics could be this profound. Now I've discovered graphic novels that really are great works of literature, like Maus and Persepolis. It really is a whole new world of comics.

              The art for Pride of Bagdad is absolutely stunning and the story is beautifully heart breaking. I like that it’s not directly telling the story of the war, or even trying to take sides. There is a lot of symbolism that could be interpreted in many different ways but at the comic’s core it isn’t trying to take an outright political stance on the events. It is simply telling a beautiful story.

            I think the overarching theme of the story is that war is sad. It doesn’t matter who is fighting or for what reason, war is always devastating. There are losses on both sides, but neither side is painted as the bad guy. I think the lions make the perfect neutral party on the events. They don’t know what’s happening or why, they are simply trying to survive it.

            I think this graphic novel is a perfect example of comics taking a step to becoming contemporary literature. Something that can be read for it’s rhetoric and looked at in the same light as classic literature. Maybe someday graphic novels will become an average part of school curriculum, as they can be just as profound and educational as any literature that is taught today. One can only hope.