Pride of Baghdad

History

Well this is by far the most graphic GN I have read this quarter, even more so than The 9/11 Report and quite a bit more disturbing. The intriguing part is that it is also a true story about a pack of lions that escaped from the Baghdad zoo during the American bombing in Iraq. It raises a lot of interesting thoughts and themes that hold true in the world today. During the story the pack of lions encounter other wild animals that recall the past war to describe what is going on now.



Objective

The illustrations in this GN are extremely detailed and flashy with vibrant colors. They make each scene stand out. The gutters vary and on some pages you might say there aren't any gutters because there is an illustration taking up the whole page with maybe one or two panels on top of it. The dialogue between the lions works well and you get a sense of each lion's personality.



Subjective

I really enjoyed this story, it was different from any other that I've read. I like the way the author developed the characters, it makes the story deeper and creates more connections and conflicts between the lions. The pictures at times were a bit disturbing ans shocking. Some of them were definitely a surprise when I turned the page and not necessarily a good one. The story is sad, but does an excellent job in showing the brutalities of war.



Themes

A theme I saw in this book was how war can destroy friendships and destroy people mentally. When having to fend for themselves amongst the war, the lions become more agressive with one another and their is a lot of anger and arguing that goes on, that you didn't see when they were in the zoo. I think it depicts the carelesness of Americans and the shoot first think later philosophy which seems to be growing here.



Connections

I think these lions along with all the other animals that died are an example of all the innocent people that have been killed during the fighting in Iraq. I think the soldiers show how reckless and honestly stupid the Americans can be. The one soldier who shoots the lions say the Safa just starting to charge so he felt the need, but didn't want to kill him. Yet Safa was not the first one killed, Zill was, who was peacefully enjoying the sunset, so once again ignorance and not being able to take responsibility for ones actions added up to more killing then necessary, hence