Heroes and sidekicks and villains! Oh my! In the Modern Age of comic books, which began in the mid 1980’s and continues even now; comic and graphic novel consumers were introduced to the antihero, Wolverine, Punisher, and V from Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. It is true what they say that not all heroes wear capes. This sentiment could not be more true in the case of the two girls and the one eyed bunny featured in Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan’s graphic novel, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial. In this graphic novel, while satirical in its delivery, can also be seen as a call for social activism. About what you ask? Just that little thing that we call the environment.
Back to our heroes without capes…in As the World Burns, we are introduced to a myriad of characters, two of which are girls who could not be more different. Their differences are shown to us from their hairstyles, their clothing, all the way down to their night and day personalities. On one hand you have the girl dressed in bright colors on the front cover, who comes to her darkly dressed friend spouting the same old solutions to the environmental issues, like installing low flow shower heads, buying low watt light bulbs, using public transportation or carpooling to get to and from work, etc. To which her friend gives her a strong, albeit harsh, dose of reality. Yes, you can do all of these things, but one person doing those handful of things alone will not save the planet. In fact, it is pointed out to the girls later on in the graphic novel, that we should have been treating the environment better loooooong before now. According to the animals, saving the environment “might have been possible, if you’d started hundreds of years ago” (Jensen & McMillan 153).
The use of talking animals, and a one-eyed bunny that sets test animals free from their cages and then blows up the test facility are perfect examples of the graphic novel medium being a tool for social activism. If the topics discussed in this graphic novel were in any other medium, it would be viewed as some sort of agenda pushing book that was released by one political party. However, since there are pictures and the occasional comic relief moment, it is viewed as a satirical work, that does make some good points, that as readers we should be paying attention to. The graphic novel is still as relevant as it was in 2007 (when it was published) and while it does have a few moments where it seems like it is repeating itself, that might be what the world needs to see and hear for it to take hold.
Back to our heroes without capes…in As the World Burns, we are introduced to a myriad of characters, two of which are girls who could not be more different. Their differences are shown to us from their hairstyles, their clothing, all the way down to their night and day personalities. On one hand you have the girl dressed in bright colors on the front cover, who comes to her darkly dressed friend spouting the same old solutions to the environmental issues, like installing low flow shower heads, buying low watt light bulbs, using public transportation or carpooling to get to and from work, etc. To which her friend gives her a strong, albeit harsh, dose of reality. Yes, you can do all of these things, but one person doing those handful of things alone will not save the planet. In fact, it is pointed out to the girls later on in the graphic novel, that we should have been treating the environment better loooooong before now. According to the animals, saving the environment “might have been possible, if you’d started hundreds of years ago” (Jensen & McMillan 153). The use of talking animals, and a one-eyed bunny that sets test animals free from their cages and then blows up the test facility are perfect examples of the graphic novel medium being a tool for social activism. If the topics discussed in this graphic novel were in any other medium, it would be viewed as some sort of agenda pushing book that was released by one political party. However, since there are pictures and the occasional comic relief moment, it is viewed as a satirical work, that does make some good points, that as readers we should be paying attention to. The graphic novel is still as relevant as it was in 2007 (when it was published) and while it does have a few moments where it seems like it is repeating itself, that might be what the world needs to see and hear for it to take hold.
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