After George Bush managed to convince America that Saddam Hussein had a stash of dangerous weapons in his basement, Afghanistan briefly lost its position as the world’s favourite basket case to Iraq. But recent events have pushed Afghanistan back to the top slot. Riven by violent resistance to the United States-backed Karzai government, political instability and lawlessness, Afghanistan threatens to come apart with every passing day. French graphic novelist Nicholas Wild’s Kabul Disco is a seriocomic look at the country’s tenuous attempts to restore peace and order. Wild arrived in Kabul in February 2005 to write and illustrate a comic book that explained the Afghan constitution to children. Kabul Disco records his adventures in his temporary home. Wild casts his irreverent eye over the cocooned world of expatriates in Kabul, the often-farcical nature of local elections and the role America plays in the teetering country. The book, which has just been released in India, is the first in a trilogy, said Wild. The second part is already available in Europe, and Wild is currently working on the final book.
How effective are graphic novels in telling stories and reporting on the world?
The graphic novel is a tool to tell a story. Books and movies are two other tools. The story is more interesting than the tool you use to tell it. If I were a movie director or a writer, I would have used another tool.
Did you fictionalise anything in the book?
The events related in the book happened for real. I might have modified their chronologic order or accentuated the personality of the main characters. Also, in real life, we are all three-dimensional and in colour. In the graphic novel, we are black-and-white and two-dimensional.
Some reviews compare your work to Guy Delisle and Joe Sacco. Who do you count as your influences?
I like both artists a lot and I am flattered to be compared to them. But I don’t really count them as influences. We share the fact we write about our experience in foreign countries, but the writing is different. I like to have direct dialogue and little text that isn’t dialogue. It’s more of a cinematographic approach that enhances the rhythm of the narration.
Nandini Ramnath
Kabul Disco, HarperCollins Rs 325.
Source : Time Out Delhi ISSUE 11 Friday, August 20, 2010
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