Well, Josh Neufeld has one answer.

To commemorate the recent four-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Neufeld released A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, a graphic novel that details one of the world’s worst disasters through the stories of seven real survivors.  Neufeld himself volunteered with the Red Cross in the Gulf Coast after the storm and chronicled his experiences on a blog.  A few years ago, a commenter on the blog wrote: “Do a comic. Please.” Readers were already familiar with Neufeld’s work on Harvey Pekar’s “American Splendor” so they knew that his storytelling comics had the power to convey the intensity of the disaster.

Neufeld began by writing a serialized webcomic that also included links to archival footage and other materials documenting what actually happened in the Gulf. Through multiple installments of the comic, he followed the lives of real people dealing with the aftermath of the storm. Now the comic has just been released as a book with some new additions. Read more »

I’m going to go with yes. Yes they are. But I have a pretty liberal definition of “art.”

Read the rest of the comic “Against Art” by Jochen Gerner, then sound off: do you agree/disagree?

Take Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, rearrange the images, insert new captions, and what do you get? Persepolis 2.0, a prime example of transformative storytelling by 2 anonymous Iranian exiles who reimagined Satrapi’s novel in the context of the recent election and protests.

Persepolis 2.0 begins its story on voting day and continues to include the shocking results, the subsequent protests, and the use of Twitter and other social media in the dissension. The story’s final frames depicts a godlike figure cradling Neda Agha-Soltan in his arms as he croons, “Don’t cry Neda. Your death will not be in vain.” The final frame begs the reader to support Iran by forwarding the graphic novel and spreading the word.

This is by no means the first time someone has used the arts to further a political cause, nor is it even the first time someone has reinterpreted Marjane Satrapi’s art, but Persepolis 2.0 is particularly moving in that the remix so eerily resembles the original. In a recent interview with the Guardian, one of 2.0’s editors says that “the updated cartoon was intended to show how history was repeating itself in Iran.” He continues: Read more »