The Middle East is not virgin territory for comic books: Joe Sacco's "Palestine" is an account of Sacco's time in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s; and Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" tells the often-heartbreaking tale of how she left Iran after the fall of the shah and how she later returned. Both make compelling reading, in part, because they're based on real and tragic events. And though "Cairo" is neither of these, its effort to set a fairy tale against a backdrop of modern Egyptian politics – including Egypt's ties with Israel, its political system and media censorship – make for an entertaining, if not riveting, read.
The story brings together an American expatriate, an Egyptian newspaper columnist, an American student, Israeli soldier, and Egyptian drug dealer in a quest for a magical box protected by a jinn and sought by the villain, an uber-gangster with magic powers. While the story crisscrosses Cairo and the spirit world, it touches on important facets of Egyptian life.
The comic is at its best when it deals with life in Egypt.
Wilson, who lives in Egypt and worked as journalist for the now-defunct opposition weekly Cairo Magazine, highlights the problems with media freedoms in a key U.S. ally. In one panel, Ali Jibreel, the journalist, tells Kate, the expatriate: "I nearly forgot – our last issue was censored. I am buying lunch for the whole office to celebrate."
Kate: "Celebrate? You're happy?"
Jibreel: "Of course I am happy. If they are censoring us, we must be doing something right."
The exchange captures life under President Hosni Mubarak's Egypt where at least seven journalists were arrested in 2007 and dozens threatened or attacked, according to the Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters without Borders.
Another incisive panel targets the nature of the quasi-police state that is Egypt. Tova, the soldier, and Ashraf, the drug-runner, are looking for a friend. They seek the help of a corrupt Interior Ministry employee, but with little information to go on they fear their inquiries will come to naught. Never fear, Big Brother is here.
The bureaucrat assuages their fears: "Our system … uses so much more than computer records … cell phone signals, security cameras, ATM data … traffic radar. This is a police state. I can find anyone."
The comic also touches on the uneasy relations between Cairo and Israel. Egypt is one of three Arab countries – the others are Jordan and Mauritania – that has full diplomatic relations with Israel, but much Egyptian public opinion is allied with the Palestinian cause. Resentment against Israel –- government relations notwithstanding – is high. Tova crosses into Egypt in error and is trying to make her way back home undetected when she gets caught up in the adventure.
The often-fractious people-to-people relations is touched upon but the one false note in Tova's character is that she has refused to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories. Any reader of Israeli media knows that emotions run high in Israel on both sides of the Palestinian issue. By having an Israeli character with a "redeeming" characteristic, shortchanges the complexity of the issue.
The comic has both amusing and entertaining parts, but overall it falls short of a modern fairy tale that one might expect in a book that involves jinns and Egypt. Wilson seems to take on too many strains at once and they ultimately don't fit together as well as they should – leaving the reader grasping for more. Overall, however, "Cairo," is a fun read and Perker's black-and-white art complements it brilliantly.
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"Cairo" Written by G. Willow Wilson; Art by M.K. Perker
160pp
Vertigo Publishers
$24.99