George Khoury & the History of Arab Comics
Better known to many as JAD, George Khoury joined us on The afikra Podcast to talk about the history of Arab comics. We learnt about his career, the duality of working as a political journalist and comic artist during the Lebanese Civil War, and the unique role that comics have played in spreading nationalist propaganda throughout the Arab world. We’re diving a little deeper into the world of comics, pairing our findings with some striking examples of the region’s best publications.
A Career As a Political Journalist & Comic Artist
George Khoury is a comics critic, artist, animator and political animator who has been working in the field since the 80s. He started out as a political journalist at al Nahar newspaper. It was around the same time that he started dabbling in comics and later established himself as the first author and artist for graphic novels aimed at adult readers in Lebanon and beyond. In 1989, he founded the first collective of comic artists in Lebanon and later the first animation department at Future Television in Beirut. Through his work there, he drove to create content for kids that still contained underlying social and political criticism.
As he touches on in our conversation, his goal from the outset has been to create work that his readers would take seriously. Underscoring this mission was a desire to change perceptions of comic book art which is often misconceived as a “lesser” art form. The decision to build out his professional persona under the pseudonym “JAD” was an attempt to delineate between his journalism and art and give his work the ability to traverse both the Arab and Western worlds.
History of comics in the Arab world
Published in Egypt between 1923 and 1932, the adventures of Yamil in al Aulad are thought to be the Arab world’s first widely circulated comic. Around the same time, iconic Western characters such as Mickey Mouse were being adapted into Arabic and published in magazines such as al Atfal.
The 1940s saw a boom for comics in the region: original characters were being created but further imports from the West also blossomed. Notably, KatKot magazine started publishing translations and Arabized versions of Tintin. Two decades later, Samer – another Egyptian creation and one of the region’s first significant comics – was published, selling 50,000 copies in its first edition. Samer offered socio-political commentary, conveying core values of Pan-Arabism and anti-imperialist sentiment through its stories and thus helping to cultivate an Arab nationalist imaginary that spoke to children.
The addition of magazines such as Sindibad crystallized the comic genre into what we know today. Sindibad offered readers a mix of “local stories..but also incorporated stories about “Farfor and Basbous, clearly modeled on Tom & Jerry.” Ahmed Hejazi whose work "ridiculed the political class and Egyptian society in a healthy exercise of laughing at themselves,” was considered one of the most influential artists of the time.
Lebanon’s first comic, Dunia al Ahdath, was created by Loren Rihany. As the only open market in the region, Lebanon played an instrumental role in importing apolitical Western superhero comics into the region. Through the 1960s, Lebanon saw over 35 comic magazines appear.
The late 70s saw the launch of state-run magazines such as Syria’s Usama and Iraq’s Majallaty as well as the widely-loved Majid created by Ahmad Omar in the UAE in 1979. Although the region’s nascent comic book culture was taking hold – especially alongside the tides of anti-Imperialist sentiment – Western influence still persisted. That’s why many of the region’s magazines continued to tell tales of famous Western characters – although these were often Arabized. The world of Arab comics has taken a while to establish itself. Pedro Rojo writing for IEMED points to Beirut and Cairo (as well as Tunis and Casablanca) as the gravitational poles of the still emerging Arab comic sphere. He also cites Khoury as a majorly influential figure – particularly through his work with the JAD Workshop and its creation of the magazine Samandal.
Sources:
https://www.iemed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Arab-Comics.pdf
https://ithraeyat.ithra.com/editions/nostalgia/nine-decades-of-arabic-comics
10 Graphic Novels From & About the Arab World
Graphic novels are a deeply expressive, compelling and human medium. Combining the power of storytelling with personal illustrations, this is a genre that is for all ages. We had the pleasure of welcoming award-winning graphic novelist, journalist and cartoonist Malaka Gharib on Ehkili (afikra’s Book Club podcast), which inspired us to put together a list of graphic novels from and about the region.
It Won’t Always Be Like This
Malaka Gharib
This is an intimate and deeply personal graphic memoir by Gharib, which follows a young American girl as she grows up with her Egyptian father’s new family and navigates teenagehood in a new country. Drawing on her own memories, Gharib paints a vivid picture of adolescence, family and searching for identity.
Bye Bye Babylon: Beirut (1975 - 1979)
Lamia Ziadé
It recounts the author’s experience of Beirut before and during the Lebanese Civil War – through a child’s eyes. This graphic novel visually delineates the city’s golden days from its devastation through the war. A unique graphic memoir, this is an “important visual record of a terrible war.”
A Game for Swallows, To Die, To Leave, To Return
Zeina Abirached
A visual account of Zeina Abirached’s childhood growing up in 1980s East-Beirut. The story is contained to a single afternoon in 1984 as Abirached and her brother tensely wait for their parents to return from visiting their grandmother in West Beirut.
Baddawi
Leila Abdelrazaq
It follows Ahmad, a young Palestinian boy growing up in Baddawi, a refugee camp in North Lebanon. Ahmad represents Leila Abdelrazaq’s father. Through his eyes, Abdelrazaq paints a compelling portrait of the region in the 60s and 70s, intertwined with a coming-of-age narrative arc.
The Arab of the Future
Riad Sattouf
An award-winning graphic memoir by a French-Syrian cartoonist. It was written in five volumes, each tracks a different moment in the author’s own childhood between France, Libya and Syria, “under the shadow of three dictators - Muamma Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father.” This is a memoir that is deeply compelling, human, and at moments funny.
Arab in America
Toufic El Rassi
A visual account of Toufic El Rassi’s own lived experiences growing up in the United States as an Arab. Throughout the novel, El Rassi sheds light on the deeply embedded prejudice and discrimination that both Arabs and Muslims confront in the US. The book also grapples with modern Middle Eastern history and the role of Western media in disseminating damaging stereotypes of Arab-Americans.
Inside the Giant Fish
Rawand Issa
A fusion of a coming-of-age story and a narrative that examines the impact of the privatization of Lebanon’s public beaches on the locals of El Jiyeh. A girl searches for her lost memories on a beach that no longer exists.
Poppies of Iraq
Brigitte Findakly & Lewis Trondheim
It recounts Brigitte Findakly’s childhood in Iraq. Co-written and drawn with her husband, the novel ties together personal memories, politics and Saddam Hussein, and the history of Orthodox Christians in the Arab world. The memoir also grapples with what it means to be physically apart from one’s homeland and yet feel such a strong affinity to it.
The Apartment in Bab El Louk
Donia Maher and Ganzeer
Written by Donia Maher and illustrated by Ganzeer, this is a short graphic novel: a compact story that gives the reader a quick taste of downtown Cairo through the eyes of an old recluse living in Bab El Louk. Ganzeer also joined us on The afikra Podcast back in December 2022.
Metro: A Story of Cairo
Magdy El Shafee
It highlights the financial social insecurity faced by youth in Cairo. Through the novel, we get a feel for the systemic societal issues Egypt is facing, and the sense that a reckoning is on the horizon. Published three years before the Arab Spring, Metro was banned in Egypt. It was republished after a long trial in 2012.
