p.s.,

I managed to start and finish Persepolis yesterday. Anyone who doubts that the graphic novel is a "serious" medium needs to drop everything and find a copy of this book by Marjane Satrapi, which with its stark artwork and its rich and bittersweet narrative manages to draw us into what would seem an otherwise hopelessly complex subject matter, the history of Persia from the days of Cyrus to present-day Iran, with all of its wars, coups, imperialist intrigues, and concomitant tragedy. Of course we would do well to try to understand why the Iranians are the people who they are today, now that the first target on Dubya's "Axis of Evil" has fallen and the neocon hawks are clamoring for an encore (just in time for the 2004 Election, natch) - some sympathy for a nation that has seen more than its share of suffering over the millennia and has along the way picked up a legitimate grievance or two against the meddling West might be in order, before the American war machine commits itself to another crusade of dubious merit.