Pride of Baghdad [Hardcover]

Brian K. Vaughan (Author), Niko Henrichon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2006

From one of America’s most critically acclaimed graphic novel writers – inspired by true events, a startlingly original look at life on the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War.

In his award-winning work on Y THE LAST MAN and EX MACHINA (one of Entertainment Weekly’s 2005 Ten Best Fiction titles), writer Brian K. Vaughan has displayed an understanding of both the cost of survival and the political nuances of the modern world. Now, in this provocative graphic novel, Vaughan examines life on the streets of war-torn Iraq.

In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad in a desperate struggle for their lives. In documenting the plight of the lions, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD raises questions about the true meaning of liberation – can it be given or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity?

Based on a true story, VAUGHAN and artist NIKO HENRICHON (Barnum!) have created a unique and heartbreaking window into the nature of life during wartime, illuminating this struggle as only the graphic novel can.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—A heartbreaking look at what it's like to live in a war zone. Inspired by true events, this story tells of four lions that escape from the Baghdad Zoo during a bombing raid in 2003 and encounter other animals that offer unique perspectives, such as a tortoise that survived World War I. They begin to question the nature of freedom. Can it be achieved without being earned? What is its price? What do the lions owe the zookeepers who took care of them at the cost of keeping them in captivity? Where should they go? What should they eat? The four lions soon realize that a desert city is nothing like the grassy savannas of their memories. Their experiences mirror those of the Iraqi citizens displaced by the conflict. The book succeeds as a graphic novel and as an account of the current crisis. Henrichon's full palette emphasizes browns and grays that evoke the sands of the country, while his long brushstrokes and careful attention to detail reflect the precise and minimalist dialogue that Vaughan uses. An allegorical tale with compelling and believable characters, Baghdad makes it clear that without self-determination, there can be no freedom—Erin Dennington, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax, VA
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo; 1st Ed. edition (September 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401203140
• ISBN-13: 978-1401203146
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.6 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian K. Vaughan has previously written episodes of Swamp Thing and The Hood mini-series. His current work includes Runaways and Y: The Last Man.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Ain't Your Daddy's Lion King, October 17, 2006

By 

Brian Markowski (Cedar Rapids, IA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pride of Baghdad (Hardcover)

Based on a true story, "Pride of Baghdad" is a very fictionalized account of a group of lions who escape from their zoo during the bombing of Iraq. What's true is that there was/is a war with Iraq, that the zoo was bombed, and that four lions escaped; the rest comes from the pens of writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Niko Hendrichon. To tell the story effective, Vaughan "Disneys" it by giving the animals a voice, but what starts off like another Lion King sequel soon becomes a rather dark and adult story about society and family.

The book begins in the Baghdad zoo where life is easy for Zill, his two wives (Noor and Safa) and his son Ali. Zill and Ali seem content but Noor, feeling a change in the wind, contemplates escape. When the bombs start to fall an opportunity is had and the four make their way out of the zoo and into the streets of Baghdad. The world is theirs for the time being, only the tanks in the street and the planes in the sky surround them. They have finally won their freedom; but what to do with it, where to go and what is there to eat? The four soon realize that a desert city is nothing like a grassy savanna. More challenges soon face them and the questions begged in the end might be, what is freedom, what is the cost of freedom, and can only the naive be truly free?

Written in a simple straight forward style with clean expressive art, the book doesn't try to be too clever or too smart. Vaughan excels at telling compelling simple stories with interesting premises ("Y, The Last Man" and "Ex-Machina") and "Pride" is no exception. It's meant for mature readers as there is a rape scene and some graphic violence. If it where a movie I might give it a PG-13 rating, but I would add that if kids do read this book they should have an adult to discuss it with after. The story might be simple but the theme is not and the end might have younger kids crying through the night. I don't mean to spoil anything for new readers but it's the Iraq War...right now there are no happy endings.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The pinnacle of an evolving art form, September 20, 2006

By 

J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pride of Baghdad (Hardcover)

Graphic novels continue to stand as a new medium, only receiving serious attention for perhaps three decades. In its continuing evolution as an adult art form, Brian Vaughn's "Pride of Baghdad" stands as an excellent achievement, one of which the famous Will Eisner would doubly have look on with considerable pride.

Pride explores the current situation in Iraq through an Animal Farmesque allegory of three lions escaping the Baghdad zoo at the beginning of the current war. The three lions are actually a true tale, the animals did escape the zoo at the conflicts start, but in Vaughn's hands they come to represent a diverse points of view on the nature of life and freedom. Encountering other animals on their journey through the alien wilderness of war torn Baghdad meeting other animals with unique perspectives, such as a tortoise who remembers WWI whose family dies in the oil spills of the war. One lion who long hungered for freedom wonders as to whether it can be achieved without being earned. Another questions what they owe "the keepers," as they call human beings, who so long kept them in captivity but also saw to their needs.

The test of any work remains its story telling, whether the tale might work without the art and the degree to which the art strengthens and deepens the experience. On all of these counts, "Pride of Baghdad" succeeds as an excellent piece of work and a fine addition to both the evolution of the graphic novel as well the on going discussion of the current Middle East crisis. Those interested in the former will delight in the work, those in the latter would be missing a thought provoking opportunity if they eschewed it simply because it blends insightful words and evocative art.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing for Older Teens and Adults., December 12, 2006

By 

M. Wasilewski "librarian" (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pride of Baghdad (Hardcover)

As a children's librarian, my experience has been that kids can handle a lot when it comes to violence and other mature subjects. This graphic novel is far too emotional, complex, and devastating for children, but absolutely necessary reading for teens and adults. I do not say this because it is excessively or pointlessly violent. Hardly. It is beautiful and compelling. At the same time, it killed me. I thought that thought I knew right from wrong, good from evil, and captivity from freedom. As I have felt about every book I have read that has insisted that I grow up, part of me wishes I never read it.