Sunday Comics: The 9/11 Report, by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón
I wasn’t here when it all happened. I was living in another country where terrorist attacks had got me used to the idea that something could happen at any time—and had, several times— in my subway, my outdoor market, or in other public places. I got used to seeing the occasional sadly mutilated person afterwards, moving on with their life while bearing the marks of one of those explosions. Still, I was duly horrified by the human tragedy I saw unroll on the September 11th we’ve all come to call “nine eleven.”
I looked at the excerpts of the comic strip style illustration of the 9/11 Commission Report by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón, called The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, with some reluctance. Why? Because I don’t particularly like anyone playing my heartstrings, even if they think they’re doing something good.
Jacobson and Colon are veterans of the comics world, Colón having overseen production of Wonder Woman (among others), and Jacobson having created the character of Ritchie Rich, so I was curious to see their graphic treament of the subject. I was reassured by a graphic style I found to be reminiscent of those glossy emergency instructions cards we find in the pouch in the back of the airplane seat we sit behind on a commercial airline flight. Cold. Not very human, people almost appearing to pantomime the moments of panic depicted, such as on page 97. A “blam!” here and a “flam!” there, but it all looks rather institutional, or like “progressive” educational materials that might be provided to American public school students disinclined to reading straight text. But, being a graphic adaptation of the 9/11 report meant for anyone who couldn’t bear to plow through the original report, I suppose this is appropriate.
Still, I did not find myself being drawn in, and found the occasional “fly on the wall” detail (such as Mr. Hazmi’s English teacher saying, “you are still not pronouncing it correctly” on page 67) left me nonplussed. The truth is, you have to want to know what’s in the 9/11 report in order to read even this visual aid.
Brooklyn Heights Blog says:
In light of the the administration’s almost surreal actions before and since the attacks, it’s strangely appropriate for the commission’s findings to be outlined in this medium.
Have a look here, on Slate’s post, which I found thanks to Gothamist. They’re posting a chapter a day, and there were already 106 pages up when I looked, so there’s plenty to see. Somehow I missed the preview last month in the Washington Post.
That’s what I think of the overall look of the book so far. Mind you, I have nothing to say about the politics or the war, preferring to keep my opinions to myself on this blog. I happily spout all sorts of contradictory political sense and nonsense over drinks with likeminded fools.
NPR’s interview of Colon and Jacobson: here.
