The Birthday Riots (ComicsLit) [Hardcover]

Nabiel Kanan (Author)

Book Description

Series: ComicsLit | Publication Date: January 2003

It is a time of upheaval and civil unrest, but for Max Collins life is sweet. As campaign advisor to London mayoral candidate Thom Conran, he can always escape the pressures of the political arena and London city life to his country retreat. But when his errant daughter, whose fifteenth birthday is imminent, becomes embroiled in the politics of change that is sweeping the nation, when the problems show up literally right in his own backyard, Max¹s true colors begin to surface as he becomes torn between his current political allegiances and his more radical past. And all the while, the madding crowd is getting closer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This short but ambitious graphic novel tells of a series of crises in the life of Max Collins, a campaign adviser to a London mayoral candidate. A former radical, Collins has sold out to middle-class comfort. Over the course of several weeks, a series of political events forces him to dramatically confront his past. England is in an uproar with mounting protests against the Land Law bill, a controversial legislation that prevents the homeless Gypsies in particular from squatting or loitering on vacant land. Collins, at odds with his now politicized daughter, becomes mired slowly in a growing web of domestic strife, infidelity, city politics, homelessness and racism. British cartoonist Kanan (Lost Girl) develops his story with an eye to personal detail and the nuance of social conflict in contemporary Britain. However, as the tension between Collins's past and present grows, Kanan opts for a grand, emotionally cathartic ending a violent but unlikely confrontation with a mob of protestors where a more personal denouement might have been more powerful. Although Kanan's b&w drawings suffer from an overdependence on gray tones, his stylized line work is simple and often elegant. He's produced a mostly rich and readable work marred only by an unsatisfying ending.

From Booklist

Middle-age regrets over life's compromises may not seem promising material for a graphic novel, but British cartoonist Kanan manages them well in his portrayal of Max Collins, an erstwhile political radical who is now a pragmatic advisor to a London mayoral candidate, whom he counsels to ignore riots over antisquatting legislation and concentrate on less incendiary issues. Although Max is central in most of the story, its pivotal figure, as befits Kanan's more familiar theme of teenage alienation (see Lost Girl, 1999), is Max's teenage daughter, Natalie, whose disillusionment with him as her fifteenth birthday approaches precipitates actions that lead to a tragic ending. The book is more dialogue-heavy than most comics, but Kanan's economical drawing style and restrained use of gray tones ensure that it remains visually arresting. If the main themes--betrayal of youthful idealism and children's disappointment with their parents--are hardly fresh, Kanan's storytelling skill compensates. Libraries developing diverse graphic-novel collections should consider this prime example of a talented comics creator successfully tackling a story atypical for the medium. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561632996
• ISBN-13: 978-1561632992
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,411,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerfully presented, highly recommended graphic novel., March 28, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birthday Riots (ComicsLit) (Hardcover)

Set in the modern-day London area, The Birthday Riots by Nabiel Kanan is the engaging graphic novel focused on an upscale man who has errantly left behind the ideals of his college days, and now advises a mayoral candidate to turn a blind eye to plight of the homeless and worry more about middle class issues such as transportation instead. But the mounting pressures of embracing practicality over humanity converge upon him, as his fifteen-year-old daughter runs away from home and mounting social pressured all come to a head. The Birthday Riots is a powerfully presented tragedy about losing touch with one's former self, and the disaster that blind acquiescence into moral ambiguity can bring. Highly recommended reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, November 27, 2011

By 

L. Young "lisafx" (Clearwater, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Birthday Riots (ComicsLit) (Hardcover)

The story takes us through a very pivotal time for just about every character in the novel. I don't want to give too much away, but the comic does explore and call into question the ideas of moral values, personal responsibility, and the role of the individual within the network of larger affairs. This is not an action story, and it's not a happy story, so look elsewhere if that is what you want. But this story is very touching and realistic, and displays a beautiful mastery of the medium.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Special, August 20, 2005

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Birthday Riots (ComicsLit) (Hardcover)

Kanan's graphic novella competently covers familiar turf in 64 pages without any great surprises, only to flounder in an unconvincing climax. Set in contemporary London and its The ex-urbs, the story is about Max Collins and his family. Once a leftist political science professor, he abandoned academia to become an advisor for an up-and-coming politician. With his new job, Max is able to afford to move his family out of the city to a bigger, better house in the country. While on the surface, the family is a happy unit, there are flashbacks of Max's infidelity with a student and broken promises to his daughter.

Now, his candidate is running for Mayor of London amidst a nationwide furor over a new land law designed to prevent travelers or squatters from occupying vacant property. The issue is literally brought home to Max when a group of gypsies move into the field behind his house. What results is pretty textbook stuff -- when the issues move from the abstract to the personal, the former radical (and artist wife) shed their liberal skin and get just as nasty as anyone else. Of course, the teenage daughter rebels against this and becomes friends with a gypsy boy, leading to other complications.

Everything culminates in an election day riot by protesters which results in a rather ridiculous ending. Max's method of self-redemption (or atonement) is both empty, cowardly, and implausible. The themes of selling out to the man and disappointing one's children are unreeled in kind of a paint-by-number manner. That said, the dialogue is pretty good, much better than most found in graphic novels. Especially good are the little family scenes Kanan creates, it feels like a real family interacting. The artwork is very solid and restrained, in the realist style. The panels tend to be really really crammed with text though, so it doesn't breathe or flow very well. The result is that when he does stop and offer a still, wordless moment, it leaves a much greater impact. On the whole, though, the book didn't do much for me.