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A review by roach
Die Löwen von Bagdad by Brian K. Vaughan
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5
At the end of every day, I watched as the horizon devoured the sun in slow, steady bites and shed its blood across the azure blue sky.
(Quote translated from German.)
I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.
While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.
I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.
While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Animal death, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty