The illustrations are chilling, the narrative certainly so, all perfectly fitting the subject.
A graphic history of the original weapon of mass destruction.
A team of French writers and artists frames this history of the atomic bomb by means of an unexpected narrator: uranium, present as Earth solidified billions of years ago but possessed of “an inkling that a great destiny awaited me.” The narrative leaps forward to the age of the Curies, who divined hidden powers in the element, which then declares, “The world’s greatest scientists are interested in me and my attributes. My day is dawning.” Many of those scientists worked for the Axis powers, which used their military might to secure uranium around the world. As one Japanese military leader remarks to a scientist named Dr. Nishina, “Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki has assured me that Japan has plenty of uranium thanks to our actions in Korea.” Via a European mine owner in Africa, though, a large quantity of uranium was shipped to, of all places, Staten Island, and Allied scientists began to work on it even as Norwegian commandos set to work blowing up German water facilities. The illustrations are deep-dark black-and-white, in keeping with the funereal consequences of the subject matter, with grimly detailed attention to the appearances of the victims of Hiroshima, including the iconic shadow left on a stone step by a vaporized victim. The storyline is well rendered, with the principal actors developed thoroughly and with all their foibles: Enrico Fermi’s arrogance, Robert Oppenheimer’s philandering, Gen. Leslie Groves’ hunger for fame and power. The authors and illustrator leave open numerous unresolved historical questions, appropriately, such as the matter of whether Werner Heisenberg deliberately delayed the development of the Third Reich’s version of the bomb. The story ends with uranium crowing about the prospects for the future—and they’re appallingly good.
The illustrations are chilling, the narrative certainly so, all perfectly fitting the subject.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781419752094
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
An impassioned message of rage and hope.
The author of Persepolis returns with a collection about burgeoning activism in Iran.
In September 2022, the beating and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian student arrested for not wearing her headscarf properly, incited a solidarity movement among women and men that spread around the world. To publicize and bear witness to this major uprising, Satrapi has gathered stories, cartoons, and essays from more than 20 artists, activists, journalists, and academics. The author has two aims: “to explain what’s going on in Iran, to decipher events in all their complexity and nuance for a non-Iranian readership, and to help you understand them as fully as possible”; and “to remind Iranians that they are not alone.” Setting the movement in context, Iranian American historian Abbas Milani offers an overview of the political upheavals and revolutions that have led to the current misogynist, repressive regime and the “resolute defiance” that has emerged in protest. As each contributor attests, life under a wrathful dictatorship is consistently frightening and dangerous: “The Islamic Republic ensures its own survival by murdering people. During the successive demonstrations” over Amini’s murder, “several hundred people were killed in an attempt to strike fear into the hearts of protesters. Young people were forced to confess under torture.” Women are especially vulnerable. Since November 2022, young students in schools across Iran have been poisoned by toxic gas as part of an attempt to force girls’ schools to close. Protecting the regime falls to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization that answers directly to Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, and for the past four decades has carried out a reign of terror. This collection pays homage to victims and celebrates the dreams of Iran’s determined activists. Other contributors include Joanne Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Paco Roca, and Mana Neyestani.
An impassioned message of rage and hope.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781644214053
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.
The renowned cartoonist taps into Freud, Jung, and Kabbalah to discuss what happens when the head hits the pillow.
Chast, famed New Yorker cartoonist and winner of the inaugural Kirkus Prize for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? makes it clear that while your own dreams may be inherently interesting, listening to other’ dreams is markedly not. Thankfully, the author’s thumbnail depictions of dreams that span a cross section of her bedside dream journal bring just enough humor and wit for readers to be charmed instantly. “This book is dedicated to the Dream District of our brains,” writes the author, “that weird and uncolonized area where anything can happen, from the sublime to the mundane to the ridiculous to the off-the-charts bats.” Familiar classics—“alone at a party,” “teeth falling out”—sit alongside the bizarre and hilarious—e.g., “too many birds not enough cages.” Even actor Wallace Shawn, son of former New Yorker editor William Shawn, makes an appearance: “He and I were walking down Main Street in a town in Connecticut and I needed to point something out to him: ‘Look, It’s a Broccoli Patch!’ ” From “Recurring Dreams” to “Nightmares” to “Dream Fragments or Ones That Got Away,” Chast explores beyond the first blush of the strange and personal in dreams. She writes, “here’s what’s interesting: dreams come out of my brain…as I sleep, I am creating them…so why, as they unfold, am I always so surprised?!??” The author reaches for answers beyond Freud and Jung to a wider range of insights from Kabbalah, Aristotle, neuroscientists, molecular biologists, and more. Illustrations and visual storytelling weave together a broad range of content on dreams that offers insight while never feeling burdensome or overly analytical. Easy on the eyes and witty, this book will have readers reaching for their own dream journals.
A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781620403228
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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