Some days though, I am handed a work that requires all of that to be put aside. I very distinctively remember the first time I ran into such a piece in 2018, and now I find myself in a similar situation with I Won’t Pretend These Missiles Are Stars. All of which to say, I encourage you to buy and read this collection yourself. It is one of the most heart-wrenching anthologies I have read in a minute and one that is excruciatingly timely. 

The book covers 16 different cartoonists’ experiences during the 12-Day War in Iran. The stories are unsigned, so I do not know the names of the talented folks behind the work, but through their stories I do feel like I do know them as people. The Tehran’s Cartoonist Collective has produced such a tender collection of stories that paint such a vivid picture of the landscape and reality of their situation. Even though the events are happening half a world away, I recognize the struggling freelancer, the older sibling, the cat parent, the family of four, and so many. And through their illustration and words, I am witnessing their harrowing experience in a way that floors me at every page turn.

Comics are such a unique medium. We are not getting photo-realistic replications of the horrors. We are not getting blocks of text. We are getting an imprint of their impression, a closer recreation of their anxiety and fear because they are bringing to life both the mundane and the unimaginable through their unique lens, in their words, and their drawings.

I could go on about each of the sixteen stories and the lessons learned, but ultimately, I can’t say I have a “favorite”. I can’t say one was better than the other. All I can say is that these are sixteen stories in deep conversations with each other that provide such a crystal-clear portrait of the world. 

I knew that all of this happened. I knew about the upheaval. But to see it contextualized within specific stories makes it that much more poignant. It is terrible that we live in a world and timeline where people are subject to such horrors. But if there’s any hope to glean, it is in the resiliency of the artists like the ones in the Tehran’s Cartoonist Collection are willing to put their stories out and keep making art even under impossible circumstances, to have the strength to say “I won’t pretend these missiles are stars,” to face reality not with escapism, but honest archival work (anonymously I might add).

This is what comics are about at their core. The unique intersection of text and visual media. The lens in which we learn about ourselves, others, and society.

As I said at the beginning, to review such important, necessary work is disingenuous. But I can tell you, this anthology resonated loudly, and I hope you find a copy and see their stories for yourself dear reader. 

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The post A Special Spotlight on ‘I Won’t Pretend These Missiles Are Stars’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.