The most heartbreaking part of this for me was the hyper excitement that Christophe experienced at the most basic of pleasures things I take for granted every day of my life. Sometimes he’s allowed a shower, sometimes his captors offer him a cigarette. Occasionally a new person feeds him, or forgets to, or leaves him uncuffed at night. They meld together, and create the greater story where they overlap. There’s a story unfolding in the words, and more detail unfolding in the illustrations. It’s absence after he’s moved to a more tightly controlled area, is devastating. For example, the thin light moving across the wall shows how his perception of time has been drastically reduced.

The illustration uses subtlety and simplicity to emphasize how slight the differences in Christophe’s day-to-day life become while in captivity. His mind escapes through his love of military history, as he attempts to lose himself in some of the great battles of Napoleon and the American Civil War. Noises and events occur outside of his view and understanding, and he’s left only to guess what they are constructing his greater world from fantasy. The reader is kept in the dark right there along with Christophe, experiencing his story as he tells it.

His world is reduced to 4 walls and a ceiling. The language barrier between him and his captors keeps him entirely in the dark as to why he’s been kidnapped, where he’s being held, what the status of negotiations (if any) for his release are, etc. There’s a long history of doing just that: Persepolis, Maus, and last year’s March for example were all exemplary, and Hostage belongs right alongside them.ĭelisle has done admirable work capturing the disorientation of Christophe’s hostage experience. In several ways historical accounts feels more real, and more personal when presented in panels. The story can be presented in a simpler language, straightforward and raw, and this often gives it a lot more emotional impact. It has all of the strengths of both, and few of their weaknesses.

It’s also firmly in the realm of literature, but free from the usual trappings of that medium as well. Like film it’s partly a visual medium, but it’s free from the tropes, narrative boundaries, and language of film. I’m convinced that graphic novels are the perfect form for historical accounts and memoirs.

Hostage by Guy Delisle