Back in November I was taking a flight from LA to San Francisco and got chatting to the guy sat next to me. He was 88 and on his way to spend Thanksgiving with his daughter and family. He was a lovely guy to chat to and, naturally, conversation came round to what he did for a living - it turns out that Sid is a bestselling graphic novel author. After a life spent at Harvey and Marvel comics he has now found his niche writing non-fiction graphic novels. In particular he and his illustrator partner have had great success creating graphic novel editions of the 9/11 Report and the Torture Report.
Now, I've never felt inclined to reading the unabridged, 500+ page editions of either of these reports, but condensed down into a more accessible graphic novel version they make for fascinating reading. I got a sense reading the books that these reports aren't necessarily read and digested by enough politicians to make their findings take root. Indeed Sid's motivation for writing these books was to encourage more people to read the reports and enter the debate that they should be stimulating. I found it really interesting to read what the bipartisan, party-independent, perspective is on these major elements of recent American history. And while The Torture Report makes for some depressing reading, it is made even worse by the knowledge that even after the report's publication Trump was out on the campaign trail claiming terror suspects would "talk a lot faster with torture". We live in some sad times.
Thanks Sid - I've come away from that flight far more informed than I was when I boarded the plane and I'm looking forward to reading my way through the rest of your books now.
