Hello readers, in this blog post I will be discussing my thoughts on the graphic novels Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, MARCH #3 by John Lewis, and JOURNALISM by Joe Sacco. This was my first time ever reading a graphic novel and I honestly really enjoyed all the novels and plan to read more. In my opinion March #3 was the most difficult to read not because of its comic format, but the content that came with it. I am huge on civil rights and social justice/change, I have a passion for it and have always expressed myself and stood up for others. However, when reading March #3 I was torn. The story itself is inspirational but the hard work and dedication expressed through Lewis’s perspective is absolutely breathtaking. A story of not only working towards equality but a story that truly captures the vile acts of white supremacy in America. The comic strips help this book come to life, there are so many arrests, beatings, killings, bombings, and overall tragic events that have happened and some of the events have not even been heard of. The book was amazing, but it hit very close to home and gave a perfect illustration and representation of what striving for a better world looks like.

Moving onto Persepolis, I also really enjoyed this novel. The story behind a little girl that is trying to find her voice but still has so much to overcome. I had little to no knowledge about what had gone on in Iran until reading this graphic novel. The novel does a great job of balancing the focus on the problems in Iran and the recollection of young Marjane. She gives outstanding illustrations and text throughout the entire book, although young Marjane seems very rebellious and often goes through so many different phases, she has always known that she was going to do whatever she believed in.

The most unique novel out of the three I read was definitely JOURNALISM By Joe Sacco. The novel contains six different stories of violence and war; I chose the story of The Palestinian Territories. After reading March #3 I decided to read an easier story from Joe Sacco that was not heavily illustrated by war. The reading was short but very informative and definitely captured my attention. The story starts off in color and then suddenly turns black and white, I believe Sacco did this to inform his readers that the devastating part was approaching. There were a lot of bullet holes in walls and piles of rubble in the illustrations, many civilians who were devastated by how they were being forced to leave their homes because of the soldiers. NPR’s Linda Gradstein’s Six Day War: Land Ownership Disputes Arise, goes further into depth on explaining the problem between territories and what lead up to the six day war while Sacco explains how people of these territories felt and the causes of the thousands of people without homes. I believe that is why his story suddenly changes color, when there was color there was hope.

Overall, I really enjoyed and learned so much from reading the graphic novels. I am surprised there aren’t many graphic novels like the ones I recently read. They bring a whole new dimension on how important and tragic the violence and wars really were. Since it provides imagery I think it’s also more engaging and informative.

References:

Linda Gradstein’s Six Day War: Land Ownership Disputes Arise :https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10801564