CAIRO: A GRAPHIC NOVEL
February 15th 2009 21:47
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: Vertigo DC Comics
Production Team: G. Willow Wilson – writer, M. K. Perker – artwork, Travis Lanham - lettering
Cost: AU $22.10/US $17.99
Back in the halcyon days of my youth, which some would say was at the time when Stonehenge was first being raised by indigenous tribes of woad covered Britons, I was a big fan of the old Sinbad films featuring Douglas Fairbanks Jnr along with the Thief of Baghdad with Sabu. There was something intrinsically romantic about the stories, the setting and the vibe of the whole thing. As time passed the fandom of such films led me to looking into the whole Thousand and One Nights story, Arab history, Islam, and even Arab music. Now no doubt you’re wondering what the heck does all this have to do with a graphic novel called Cairo? It’s a good question and I can answer it simply by saying Cairo: a graphic novel shares the same romantic feeling to things such as the Sinbad and Thief of Baghdad films, to the Thousand and One Nights and various other Arabic folktales. But as with any good tale there is more to it than simply just the romance of medieval Arabic literature.
Now along with a great many other such graphic novels I have managed to come across in the last year or so this one I found on the shelves of my local library just begging to be read. Strangely I picked it up whilst on my way to work at the local Men’s club which is also my favourite watering hole so when I had few moments to spare down there it began to be read, said reader enjoying a refreshing cleansing beverage as pages were turned and the story gradually absorbed into my little grey cells. Of course combined with a hard night of shifting furniture, selling raffle tickets, chewing the fat with the patrons and generally enjoying myself I didn’t finish it that night; no that was left for the next morning as I was waiting for the bus to go to tech…
Cairo as a city would have to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest continually existing cities on the face of the planet and within this story there is not only the modern Islamic Cairo but also hints and fragments of the older Pre Islamic and even Pre Christian Cairo, of the community that existed on the backs of the Nile in the days of the Pharaohs and the Pyramids which are only just a figurative kick in the head away from the sprawling city. Cairo is an exotic locale, probably one of the most exotic locales both in reality and in fiction; it has figured in numerous writers’ works as well as numerous movies down through the years that it’s surprising it hasn’t made an appearance in the comic world before now. In fact just looking at the cover of this graphic novel I could almost imagine the sounds of the city, its hustle and bustle along with the muezzin’s call to evening prayer echoing out across the urban sprawl, the sound of bells from a Coptic church and the beat of music within some of the clubs and bars. And just faintly in the distance the faint cry of jackals and eagles mixing with the desert wind from the west, the land of the dead and buried…
A bit over the top I hear you say, well certainly, I have no idea what the real Cairo is like but this graphic novel is not so much about the real Cairo as about one that is fictional and that does fit with my somewhat romanticised vision. This is a Cairo of magic and magical realism, where the meeting of roads both physical and metaphysical can literally change someone forever in ways that they would have not imagined. And it is not only a story of people but of the Jinn, commonly known here in the west as genies or Djinn if you’re a hardcore D&
fan. Now this tale takes an unusual approach to telling its tale, opting for a very ensemble point of view rather than focusing in on the point of view of a select few characters within the framework of its narrative. Granted some of these viewpoints take up more of the story than the others but they’re all eventually woven into something greater than the individual parts in much the same way as a weaver would weave the threads that go to making a Persian carpet.
There are five individuals whose fate and paths have drawn them into the vast unique tapestry that is Cairo; each one of them has their own reasons for being in this particular place at this particular time although none of them can know just exactly what the outcome of it all will be. An Israeli soldier, a hashish smuggler, an out of luck journalist, an American expatriate and troubled young student all find themselves inadvertently coming together through the medium of a hookah. Said hookah happens to be the abode of a Jinn who has become imprisoned in said smoking device by a rather sinister gangster named Nar. Now Nar, who happens to look like an older Peter Lorre and has the magical aptitude of Lord Voldemort, has bound the unfortunate Jinn Shams into this hookah in an attempt to work out what is contained in a box Shams has been guarding.
Via various means and the machinations of Shams himself the hookah becomes the focus through which the lives of five relatively unknown strangers become entwined, entwined for their good and the good of others. As well as using various iconic elements of Arabic folktales and Egyptian mythology Cairo is also a morality tale, a tale that despite the despair and fear within the world there are something’s that we should just not do, it also points out that no matter what our differences in belief’s and customs we are all the same within the eyes of God, whether that god is known as Allah, Jehovah or simply God. Cairo: a graphic novel is a finely crafted piece of literature and well worth chasing up in order to read.
Production Team: G. Willow Wilson – writer, M. K. Perker – artwork, Travis Lanham - lettering
Cost: AU $22.10/US $17.99
Back in the halcyon days of my youth, which some would say was at the time when Stonehenge was first being raised by indigenous tribes of woad covered Britons, I was a big fan of the old Sinbad films featuring Douglas Fairbanks Jnr along with the Thief of Baghdad with Sabu. There was something intrinsically romantic about the stories, the setting and the vibe of the whole thing. As time passed the fandom of such films led me to looking into the whole Thousand and One Nights story, Arab history, Islam, and even Arab music. Now no doubt you’re wondering what the heck does all this have to do with a graphic novel called Cairo? It’s a good question and I can answer it simply by saying Cairo: a graphic novel shares the same romantic feeling to things such as the Sinbad and Thief of Baghdad films, to the Thousand and One Nights and various other Arabic folktales. But as with any good tale there is more to it than simply just the romance of medieval Arabic literature.
A bit over the top I hear you say, well certainly, I have no idea what the real Cairo is like but this graphic novel is not so much about the real Cairo as about one that is fictional and that does fit with my somewhat romanticised vision. This is a Cairo of magic and magical realism, where the meeting of roads both physical and metaphysical can literally change someone forever in ways that they would have not imagined. And it is not only a story of people but of the Jinn, commonly known here in the west as genies or Djinn if you’re a hardcore D&
fan. Now this tale takes an unusual approach to telling its tale, opting for a very ensemble point of view rather than focusing in on the point of view of a select few characters within the framework of its narrative. Granted some of these viewpoints take up more of the story than the others but they’re all eventually woven into something greater than the individual parts in much the same way as a weaver would weave the threads that go to making a Persian carpet.There are five individuals whose fate and paths have drawn them into the vast unique tapestry that is Cairo; each one of them has their own reasons for being in this particular place at this particular time although none of them can know just exactly what the outcome of it all will be. An Israeli soldier, a hashish smuggler, an out of luck journalist, an American expatriate and troubled young student all find themselves inadvertently coming together through the medium of a hookah. Said hookah happens to be the abode of a Jinn who has become imprisoned in said smoking device by a rather sinister gangster named Nar. Now Nar, who happens to look like an older Peter Lorre and has the magical aptitude of Lord Voldemort, has bound the unfortunate Jinn Shams into this hookah in an attempt to work out what is contained in a box Shams has been guarding.
Via various means and the machinations of Shams himself the hookah becomes the focus through which the lives of five relatively unknown strangers become entwined, entwined for their good and the good of others. As well as using various iconic elements of Arabic folktales and Egyptian mythology Cairo is also a morality tale, a tale that despite the despair and fear within the world there are something’s that we should just not do, it also points out that no matter what our differences in belief’s and customs we are all the same within the eyes of God, whether that god is known as Allah, Jehovah or simply God. Cairo: a graphic novel is a finely crafted piece of literature and well worth chasing up in order to read.
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