My article about the confiscated graphic novel "Metro" came out in The Review, the weekend cultural supplement of The National, a new English daily based in Abu Dhabi. Below is the opening paragraph. You can see translated panels from the novel at Words Without Borders.

 

In a pivotal scene in the Egyptian graphic novel “Metro,” a blind old shoe-shiner stumbles upon an anti-government demonstration in the streets of Cairo. “Where can the oppressed find justice? Where can the hungry find food?” chant the demonstrators. The old man, almost without realizing it, starts mumbling along. A few frames later, he’s being carried on the shoulders of the demonstrators, having improvised a choice slogan of his own. A few frames further on, he’s being beaten by a gang of those young thugs routinely employed by the authorities to break up demonstrations. In two pages, the author of “Metro” has suggested the appeal and hopefulness of recent democracy movement in Egypt, as well as the severe consequences of any political activism.