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Hidden Disaster
HB Picture Boards
- GenresGraphic NovelsComics
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 13, 2018
Informative
October 16, 2014
The second information graphic novel that I have read in my project to review all comics produced by the EU, and a much better effort than the first one, which was the all to propagandistic Rebonds.
This is a fictitious story about a relief mission by the ECHO, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department. We follow a young, female representative of ECHO who is sent to a disaster area to assess the needs and report back. She meets the hardships of the citizens, but also the political problems of country where parts are ruled by guerrilla leaders.
The story is interesting and engaging, and the information about the EU and ECHO is interwoven pretty well, so as to not disturb the reading experience. The art by Erik Bongers is OK, and very clearly inspired by the Swiss comics artist Cosey, both in style and in colouring. Again I'm a bit surprised that such a big project as this must have been (it is stated that the book were printed and distributed in more than 300 000 copies...) could not engage one of Europe's major comics artist, instead of this competent but still rather unknown name. What about Cosey himself for instance...
Though it is very clearly stated that everything in the a story is fictitious and not based on any real person or place, the country with the disaster is obviously based on Middle Easter countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. That is in itself not strange, as ECHO have organised relief help in those countries, but In the story the country is called Borduvia. Now, as the artist is from Belgium, there is no way that he is not aware of one of the most famous fictitious countries ever created, Burduria, from the Tintin albums King Ottokar’s Sceptre and The Calculus Affair. So, in naming this otherwise very realistically rendered country Borduvia, I get all kinds of connotations at the start of the story, and all of them wrong, as this has nothing to do with Tintin, or with Hergé's fictitious country, which was supposed to be places somewhere in the Balkans. Maybe someone thought this would be funny, but for me it was an unnecessary distraction.
Still, this was a good effort within the genre of information comics, and money well spent by the EU I would say.
I'm going to try to get hold of, read and review all comics officially made by the EU. So far, I've covered the following:
* Rebonds
* Hidden Disaster
If you want to read any of these books, most are available as pdf:s to download for free, at the EU online bookshop.
This is a fictitious story about a relief mission by the ECHO, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department. We follow a young, female representative of ECHO who is sent to a disaster area to assess the needs and report back. She meets the hardships of the citizens, but also the political problems of country where parts are ruled by guerrilla leaders.
The story is interesting and engaging, and the information about the EU and ECHO is interwoven pretty well, so as to not disturb the reading experience. The art by Erik Bongers is OK, and very clearly inspired by the Swiss comics artist Cosey, both in style and in colouring. Again I'm a bit surprised that such a big project as this must have been (it is stated that the book were printed and distributed in more than 300 000 copies...) could not engage one of Europe's major comics artist, instead of this competent but still rather unknown name. What about Cosey himself for instance...
Though it is very clearly stated that everything in the a story is fictitious and not based on any real person or place, the country with the disaster is obviously based on Middle Easter countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. That is in itself not strange, as ECHO have organised relief help in those countries, but In the story the country is called Borduvia. Now, as the artist is from Belgium, there is no way that he is not aware of one of the most famous fictitious countries ever created, Burduria, from the Tintin albums King Ottokar’s Sceptre and The Calculus Affair. So, in naming this otherwise very realistically rendered country Borduvia, I get all kinds of connotations at the start of the story, and all of them wrong, as this has nothing to do with Tintin, or with Hergé's fictitious country, which was supposed to be places somewhere in the Balkans. Maybe someone thought this would be funny, but for me it was an unnecessary distraction.
Still, this was a good effort within the genre of information comics, and money well spent by the EU I would say.
I'm going to try to get hold of, read and review all comics officially made by the EU. So far, I've covered the following:
* Rebonds
* Hidden Disaster
If you want to read any of these books, most are available as pdf:s to download for free, at the EU online bookshop.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews