hiredgun

A pair of artists have completed a graphic novel adaptation of the voluminous 9/11 Commission Report. If you're curious about 9/11 details and haven't read the original report, I strongly recommend this new, very readable adaptation of the commission's findings.

It basically tells the narrative of what happened that day, both on the planes and in the halls of government, as well as providing all that's been uncovered regarding the preparations and backstory to the attacks.

http://www.slate.com/features/911report/001.html


What do you make of the decision to translate the report into this form? I, for one, think it's a great idea. Anything that will encourage greater self-education and participation in political affairs and make dense works like the Commission Report accessible to a wider (and younger) readership gets my personal seal of approval.

warrrreagl

That's good. Rather than ask Americans to learn how to read and comprehend language, syntax, and research references, let's make a cartoon instead.

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Ustwo

That was my first reaction, but based on how dry some documents are to read I don't see anything really wrong with this idea. I only looked at a few of the stills so far, and it looks like they took some dramatic liberty, but as long as they didn't change or slant anything I don't see it as a bad thing.

I do wish they didn't use the 'standard' comic book font. I hate that font.

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Daniel_

It's no different than dramatised documentaries to me.

I read about it, but would like to see a copy before buying it - so I'll not get it from Amazon.

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Ch'i

Meh... Good work of fiction though.

Gatorade Frost

Interesting, but I wonder if the Pentagon really made this noise when it was hit:

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hiredgun

The whole thing is available online for free. The slate.com link in the OP should take you there.

Dilbert1234567

this is a sad day for america. do we realy have to replace a factual report with this dribble?

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Infinite_Loser

It's far too dramatized for my taste.

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Uncle Pony

The idea of turning the events of 9-11 into a comic book is a horrible one.

Da Munk

If they can turn the events of September 11th into a Nicolas Cage movie, I guess turning a report on the events into a comic book isn't that bad.

Uncle Pony

A Nicholas Cage movie is even worse. Someone is profiting off that.

kurty[B]

My thoughts exactly, after looking through most of it, it's definitely way overdramatized. I spend more time catching details like how Colorado is drawn larger than Texas, or how Iran is larger than the rest of the Middle East. Silly details like that really irk me. and I don't know, just seeing something like that in cartoon form... just really disappoints me, but at the same time, not as much as a Nicolas Cage fucking movie about it. *sigh*.

Ustwo

You know, the 9/11 conspiracy theories would make a much more enjoyable comic book I think.

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healer

I can't imagine what the family/friends of people who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks would think about this.

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hiredgun

I have to say, I'm genuinely surprised and intrigued by the responses. The way I saw it, the choice was between having most Americans truly comprehend very little of what actually happened that day (and why), versus making the story accessible to them in a slightly simplified form. The graphic novel does not speculate as to what happened onboard the planes a la the film "United 93". It does not contain dialogue except items paraphrased or directly quoted from the text of the report. You might consider it slightly dramatized, but it really isn't a dramatization.

What it does do is the same thing the Report was designed to do: to explain exactly what we know about the plot, and to explain and evaluate the performance of civil and government agencies on that day. It does so with fewer words and more illustrations, but so what?

And again, this is not a retail product. Like the original report, it is freely available online and available at low cost through retail booksellers.

Has everyone who is condemning this effort actually taken a look at the book itself? (The full work is linked in the OP). I'm interested in hearing a fuller explanation of exactly what you all are objecting to. I didn't anticipate nearly this level of opposition to the project.

Gilda

I see no harm it it, and see no reason to dismiss the content based solely on the medium in which it's presented. Comics can be a powerful and unique way to present information. It can also be a form that's a bit more accessible to some, which I can only see as a good thing.

The artwork is well done, though I am in agreement with Ustwo that a different font would have been better, preferably the one used in most Marvel books currently that uses lower case letters.

I suspect that theres a belief that comics is a children's medium and that putting something of such gravity into comic form trivializes it. Think of it as a slippery slope. If we can make a comic about 9/11, what's next? The Holocaust? Heaven forbid we trivialize that by making a comic out of it.

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Uncle Pony

It is a retail product. As a matter of fact, it's $30 for a 128 page hardback at Borders. Thirty dollars isn't exactly low cost, especially when other graphic novels are longer (page wise) and half the price. Link

The two guys responsible for the comic have made a living writing comics. Clearly they're in it for the profit, not the story. (Well, to me it's pretty clear.) It seems the various media outlets are trying to profit off the personal loss of so many by calling it art and/or claiming that they're trying to make the information more available to a wider audience. That's why I'm against it.

blktour

actually didnt then make a comic out of the Holocaust? i remember reading in high school a comic book that involved a "rat" of some sorts that showed things that happened in that time.
I dont quite remember it, has anyone else heard/seen this?

jorgelito

Yes, it is called "Maus" - it actuallycame up recentlyin the news but I can't remember why. Maybe they redid it or something, ot maybe the author passed away, but it was on NPR around six months ago or so.

Sage

Good point Gilda. The Holocaust comic, Maus, won a Pulitzer if I remember correctly.

Arguing that the people who made this comic are "profiting" and therefore are bad and evil and trivializing the event is like arguing that the news stations who reported and continue to report on 9/11 are "profiting" from viewers watching and therefore are bad and evil and trivializing the event. I think it's great that they put the 9/11 report, something that I would like to read if it wasn't however many thousand pages long, into a format that I can both quickly read and understand.

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highthief

I figure when everyone here has worked their way through the entire billion page 9/11 report, they can pooh-pooh this Coles Notes version.

Until then ...

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hiredgun

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...1501044_2.html


Okay, I should rephrase. Yes, it's being sold at retail. But it's also available for free online, in its entirety. Thirty dollars is a reasonable price for a 130pg hardcover. Hardcover books are expensive to print and ship. The original commission report wasn't free either - do you consider that to be a work of profiteering as well?

Well, um, yes. Would you rather that someone who's never done a comic before and has no idea what he's doing be the one to create a comic adaptation of the report? Why is this fact remarkable? And why is it remarkable that the artists expect compensation -- would the act only be valid as a work of total charity? Artists need to eat just like everyone else.

DJ Happy

This is probably the first time that George Bush has fully understood what happened that day (assuming the comic is 100% accurate, that is).

Ace_O_Spades

I personally see it as a way for those who otherwise simply wouldn't trudge through the document to educate themselves on the matter.

My second thought was that it seems kind of silly, especially since there are ways to do art in a comic form that comes off as far less campy.

I'd imagine people simply see comics as a lower form of entertainment medium reserved for the back rooms, comic shops, and closets of our/your nation's youth...

If, in the pursuit of educating said youth, you need to lower the bar of accepted scholarly prose, so be it.

What's the alternative? Ignorance.

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