Case Study: Pride of Baghdad". Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. September 8, 2022. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022 . Retrieved September 10, 2022. Comics have long been a medium allowing readers to see pieces of the world they don’t frequently interact with, and allegory can distill political and social concepts into a narrative without feeling preachy, combative, or inflammatory (or, at the very least, they should strive to do so). Comics selecting animal protagonists over human characters provide analogues to human experience, using personification to analyze tragedies and current events while not feeling too on-the-nose. I was often reminded of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s WE3, which admirably injects its narrative with social commentary without ever feeling pushy. Pride of Baghdad often possesses the same tone, save for a few images or blunt statements. Our lions must be careful where they tread Safa, an old lioness who is blind in one eye and has a torn ear. She has become accustomed to captivity and views the human advantage of their new freedom. It is implied that she once used to be Zill's mate. Would Hurt a Child: When the soldiers kill the lions in the end, Ali, who is still a cub, is not spared AT ALL. Eye Scream: Safa TWICE. She is blind in one eye by the start of the story, and is blinded in the other by Fajer.

Overall, the novel is intriguing, well written, and the graphics are quite amazing. My only criticism is that the author depicts the lions as being conflicted about the war. In fact, the Iraqi people were very clear from the beginning that they did not want to be invaded. Polling organizations have carried out many opinion surveys in Iraq since March 2003. These polls, including those sponsored by the US and UK governments, have clearly shown that Iraqis have been very critical of the presence of foreign forces in their country. March 20, 2018, marked the 15th anniversary since the Bush/Cheney administration proclaimed the U.S. would be greeted as liberators of Iraq. More farcical words could not have been said (perhaps Ronald Reagan’s 1985 dedication of the Space Shuttle Columbia to the Taliban is a close rival: “these gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America's Founding Fathers”). No one faults Cheney for being a failed Nostradamus, but it’s clear he knew better than to invade Iraq. In his own words, during a 1994 C-SPAN interview, Cheney was asked why the US did not take Baghdad during the first Gulf War: Because if we’d gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn’t have been anybody else with us. There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Ali, a young lion cub, has never lived outside the zoo and is eager to venture into the new jungle of Baghdad, where he anticipates being a king. His youthful optimism and curiosity about the world supply the group’s energy and levity. Vaughan intentionally crafted the characters to be stand-ins for different viewpoints on the war. While writing the book, he pored over blogs written by American soldiers and Iraqis, and conducted his own interviews. Not Worth Killing: After Fajer is crushed by the stampeding horses, he begs the lions to put him out of his misery. Noor wants to, but Zill says it is better to leave him as he is to die in agony since he deserves it. They take their leave to let him die slowly and painfully.

GRAPHIC NOVEL GUIDE

I’m not even going to get into an argument if there is such a thing in the wild as lions raping each other, but can we make it so my child can read something that makes him think just a little bit without throwing every-f*& Niko Henrichon’s previous work on Barnum! In Secret Service to the USA (2005) included illustrations of realistic but highly expressive animals. Editor Will Dennis thought Henrichon would be a good fit for the project and facilitated a meeting between him and Vaughan. Previously, Henrichon worked for Marvel and DC, providing interior and cover art for major titles. Since he handled penciling, inking, and painting duties, the project took Henrichon more than a year to complete. When Vaughan first pitched the idea, it was during a time when questioning the war was considered treasonous, so he praised his editors for supporting the project. Despite winning multiple awards for his other series, Vaughan has said, “ Pride of Baghdad will probably always be the work I’m most proud of.” Plot Foregone Conclusion: It just kind of is. Especially if you read the article the story was based on. For all that people praise the art, I didn't see much salvageable there, either. It was often difficult to tell the lion characters apart and action sequences were more abrupt than exciting. The cover's pretty, but not a good representation of what's inside.

Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you know the story is based on a real life newspaper article, then you most likely know how it ends. Reception [ edit ] Writer Brian K. Vaughan signing a copy of the book at Midtown Comics in Manhattan. It’s easy to start to draw comparisons, in a novel you come to with political expectations, between the zoo keepers and the previous Iraqi regime or US occupation, but it’s not that simple. Vaughn hasn’t followed Orwell’s lead here, and the interaction between the lions and the various species they meet are not supposed to be an allegory for the nations involved in the war. Destined to cement the reputation of Brian K. Vaughan as one of the best writers to grace the medium.-- VARIETY Henrichon’s art brings the story to life in gorgeous color. From the desert sand to a lush green oasis, Iraq is depicted as a land of beauty. He slavishly studied photographs of Iraq’s architecture, and the characters themselves are distinct and personable.Through their journey, the lions explore Iraq’s history and see its monuments and marketplaces. They wander through the halls of one of Uday Hussein’s decadent palaces.

We can’t wait around for some miracle to change the world for us. We have to take control of our destinies.” Throughout the story, the lions wrestle with the cost of their freedom. Safa and her desire to remain in captivity can be interpreted as an endorsement of zoos and the protection they provide against the threats of the natural and human world. However, as a counterpoint, the domesticated animals in the palace are either mistreated or emotionally scarred by their experiences. The pride has human perspectives on freedom and whether it can be given or if it must be earned. The temporary freedom the lions have leads them on a fatal journey that asks the reader to confront the costs of war on all forms of life. Impact Despite the originality of the idea, and the wealth of symbolism and meaning such a story might have held, Vaughan did little with this book. His predictable plot, thoughtless characterization, awkward dialogue and overpowering allegory drained this book of any strength or beauty it might have had. Pride of Baghdad is the story of four lions who escaped from the Baghdad zoo after a bombing raid and was inspired by actual events. It probably goes without saying it didn't end quite as well as The Lion King . . . Expecting wide open plains outside their walls, despite being virtually institutionalised, the landscape which the lions escape into is more urban jungle than savanna.Almost a decade after its initial release, Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon’s Pride of Baghdad is still heartbreaking. The graphic novel recounts the fall of Baghdad during the 2003 American invasion as seen through the eyes of a pride of lions that fled the Baghdad Zoo.

Despite being mighty predators, the lions are free in a world that was never meant for them. They are motivated by a quest for food, yet their attempts to eat are continually thwarted as the result of rational and human decision making. They choose not to eat the turtle out of pity and question eating a man’s corpse because of their previous relationship with humans. In the historic events that inspired the story, the lions were starving and desperate, which justify the soldiers’ actions, however in the story, the lions’ conscious decisions not to eat mark them as sympathetic and humanized characters. The overt and sensationalized sexism amongst the lions was insulting. Not only because it misrepresented animal sexual behavior (particularly that of lions), but because as a thinly-veiled analogy of human sexual behavior, it was both simplistic and chauvinistic. Like in his 'Y the Last Man', Vaughan is interested in rape and gender inequality only because they give his male protagonist motivation, not because of how they affect his characters or story in general.Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: The book implies lions commit rape, can't swim, and that males never hunt. None of this is true. Pride of Baghdad was first published as a hardcover edition by DC Comics’ Vertigo line in 2006. It is Brian K. Vaughan’s first work in a stand-alone graphic novel. His work often straddles the line between high-concept adventure and social commentary as seen in his work on Runaways (2003-2009), Y: The Last Man (2002-2008), and Ex Machina (2004-2010). Vaughan has said that he was looking to test himself as a writer and challenge his reputation as a “cliff-hanger guy.” He was also eager to write a story about his conflicted feelings regarding the war in Iraq. After seeing the report about four lions that escaped the Baghdad Zoo during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Vaughan said, “Everything just kind of fell into place.”