Everything (Randy Shilts thinks) you need to know about the history of AIDS from 1980-1985.

And the Band Played On
By Randy Shilts
1987
St. Martin's Press

Documenting the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On is an extensive collection of personal accounts, scientific reports, community history, and political movements. Shilts was a journalist in San Francisco when the AIDS epidemic began and used much of his research for the San Francisco Chronicle for the material of this book. Weaving the personal emotions of gay and lesbian activists with the hard-nosed facts of scientists (which so often seem to be tainted by personal agendas and ambitions), this work of nonfiction is a startling revelation of the individual struggles, group clashes, government bungling, and management disasters of possibly the most disastrous health crisis in American history.

Though effective and convincing, Shilts’ work is incredibly long. Detailing the lives and events of many individuals, Shilts makes many of the same points over and over again. Perhaps he goes to such great lengths because the AIDS epidemic was ignored by so many government officials and members of society for so long, but at 600 pages plus, it is an extensive work that is difficult to trudge through at times. On the other hand, in hundreds of interviews and through research with many groups, Shilts reveals a nearly comprehensive story of how the AIDS virus came to be discovered and the horrible ways in which its most vulnerable victims were marginalized by the Regean administration, funding for research was withheld, and the suffering and indignity that accompanied such a massive loss of life across the globe.

King: A Comic Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Ho Che Anderson

Anderson, Ho Che.
King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Seattle, WA:
Fantagraphics Books, 2005.


In Stanley Crouch’s introduction to this biography, he puts Anderson’s work into perspective. In this book, we are given “a mix of fact and fiction, an interpretation for the purposes of entertainment, and a jumbling of imagined conversations and relationships that puts it as much in the realm of fiction as biography.” It is important to remember this statement throughout reading this provocative graphic novel. Following King from meeting Coretta Scott during his graduate studies through the bus boycotts, the freedom rides, the march on Washington and many other events in between, Anderson’s biography is a startling work of artistry, history, and creative license in non-fiction. Piecing together possible moments of the man’s personal life and public moments of the “humble” reverend in marches and speeches, Anderson brings a certain humanity to a historical figure that has gone beyond legendary status. Like suddenly discovering the Gnostic Gospels when all there’s ever been is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Anderson’s King is a man few would readily recognize, for the figure we often see today is stripped of his personality flaws and character blemishes.

The biography was created in a style reminiscent of film noir. With deep shadows and figures only half-seen, the entire work resonates with the harsh realities of segregation and the unevenly distributed rights of American citizens based on their race. Most of the biography is limited to black and white drawings, but Anderson applies color in the most dramatic moments and to represent the more significant symbols of the Civil Rights Movement. However, as stunning as the images may be, Anderson’s sometimes abstract style requires careful reading, for the flow of the story can be lost as the author jumps between settings and time periods. When presented as an alternative view to history textbooks, this work is ideal for the younger reader, bringing the reality of history closer and telling a whole story, as opposed to just the glorified moments of fame and melodrama. However, it is important to inform readers that much of this work is not based on identifiable facts, but one author’s interpretation of historical events. Neither complete fact nor wholly fiction, Anderson’s work brings new light and darkness to a man of great strength that moved many into a nonviolent revolution.

Barefoot Jen: Volume One by Keiji Nakazawa

Nakazawa, Keiji.
Barefoot Jen: Volume One: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima.
San Francisco:
Last Gasp of San Francisco, 2004.


This first volume of the Barefoot Gen series introduces the Nakaoka family, chronicling their lives in Hiroshima during the ongoing war against the Allied forces. Gen is a six year-old whose father believes Japan’s initial and continued participation in the war is both a mistake and a dishonorable move by Japanese leadership. Year of war having already passed, the Gen’s parents struggle to feed a family of five children. Though it eases the burden on mouths to fill, it is no less of a struggle emotionally when one son is sent into the countryside for safekeeping and the oldest son disobeys his father’s wishes and joins the military, only to later realize that his father’s disgust with the Japanese government is well-placed. All of these events occur around the misadventures of Gen and his little brother Shinji, a rambunctious pair that get into no end of trouble, but usually with the best of intentions. Becoming so familiar with such an emotional family makes the inevitable conclusion all the more horrific as the Enola Gay drops the first atomic bomb on the town and its inhabitants, destroying everything in its path and sending thousands to a painful, torturous death. The volume ends with this destruction, leaving the reader to discover what happens to the family in Volume Two: The Day After.

More fictional memoir than autobiography, Barefoot Gen is loosely based on Nakazawa’s experiences, the boy being referred to as his “alter-ego.” Where other graphic works often use narration to describe emotions and events, Nakazawa uses the manga style to place everything in plain view of the reader through action. Without a narrator, the reader gains a sense they are witnessing the story as it actually happens. Though the manga style can often be presented as more fantasy than reality, Nakazawa uses it as a device to make the situation more real, enhancing events to bring them closer to the reader. Ultimately, Nakazawa presents a case for peace and relates a story that leaves readers hoping such tragedies never happen again.

Marx for Beginners by Ruis

Ruis.
Marx for Beginners.
Trans. Richard Appiagnanesi.
New York:
Pantheon Books, 1976.

Functioning as both biography and history book, Marx for Beginners is an introduction to Communism and its most well known philosopher, Karl Marx. Understanding the daunting task before him, Ruis makes an attempt at summarizing, condensing, and explaining the beginnings of Communist philosophy. Beginning with an introduction to Marx, Ruis continues with the background behind its development. As Ruis further explains how Marx came to his revolutionary ideas, there is more explanation of the revolutionary thinker as well. Though certainly not comprehensive in any aspect, Ruis does break down a substantial number of ideas, thoughts, actions, attempting to make them more accessible to the reader.

Though much of the material in Marx for Beginners is helpful and easy to understand, it gets lost somewhere between the words and the graphics Ruis creates. The book is not a history in graphics, but a history with graphics. Much of what the reader learns is presented in a typical text format, though it is in a more comic script. The characters and pictures have little sequential meaning and are typically meant to be humorous sidebars on whatever historical or informational statement the book has made. They often appear more as a distraction to the flow of the work than an addition. While the graphics certainly make the substance lighter, it does not adequately contribute to its accessibility or ultimate understanding. The book remains informative, but little is gained by its presentation in the graphic medium. Had this not been the case, it might have survived as a work worthy of presentation indefinitely as a tool to understand Communism by reluctant readers of history, but since the ending of the Cold War, it is destined to become a relic of “fun” historical works.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi, Marjane.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.
Pantheon Books:
New York, 2003.

Persepolis is the autobiography of Marjane Satrapi, writing and illustrating in graphic form her life as a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Satrapi’s memoir begins at age ten in 1980 as the Ayatollah overtakes the Shah of Iran and begins such practices as forcing women to wear veils in public. The reader learns about a girl struggling with the ideas of what her family considers an extremist religion and the imprisonment of her relatives due to their rebellion against the theocracy’s ways. Though not even old enough to have an interest in boys, Marji has enough vigor to want to join her parents at protests. As Satrapi ages in the story and becomes a teenager, her interest in boys increases while her understanding of the revolution and the ensuing war decreases.

Satrapi's work is both humorous and horrifying. Through unadorned black and white comics, she is able to portray the strongest emotions to the reader, allowing them to sympathize with her past. It is perhaps this simplicity that brings the reader to so easily identify with her character, understanding her joy, sadness, and confusion. As an autobiography, it brings to life recent events so often misunderstood by teenagers and adults alike. Though it is definitely slated to her side of the story, it is a side of history most Americans have never heard. This book is a gateway to the realization that these conflicts are not so far away from our own American existence and that they affect people globally. In mixing her daily life with the trials of war, Satrapi brings the events right to our doorstep, never once allowing the reader to think this is happening outside the realm of possibility for anyone, though one may wish that were true. Four years of Satrapi’s life leaves the reader wondering how so much can happen to one person and how so many of us could remain unaware and unconcerned of its occurrence.