Democracy

by Alecos Papadatos, Abraham Kawa, Annie Di Donna

Overview

Democracy opens in 490 B.C., with Athens at war. The hero of the story, Leander, is trying to rouse his comrades for the morrow's battle against a far mightier enemy, and begins to recount his own life, having borne direct witness to the evils of the old tyrannical regimes and to the emergence of a new political system. The tale that emerges is one of daring, danger, and big ideas, of the death of the gods and the tortuous birth of democracy. We see that democracy originated through a combination of chance and historical contingency—but also through the cunning, courage, and willful action of a group of remarkably talented and driven individuals.

Alecos Papadatos and Annie DiDonna, artists behind the international phenomenon Logicomix, together with writer Abraham Kawa, deliver a graphic novel bursting with extraordinary characters and vibrant color, one that also offers fresh insight into how this greatest of civic inventions came to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608197194
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alecos Papadatos has worked as a film animator, director, and storyboarder, and creates cover art for books and periodicals. He spent five years drawing Logicomix, which became an international phenomenon. He lives in Athens, Greece.

Abraham Kawa is a writer and cultural studies theorist in Greece. His academic work focuses on graphic novels, cinema, and genre fiction.

Annie Di Donna has been an animator on many international productions. She works as an art director and colorist for graphic novels.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/17/2015
Papadatos and Di Donna, artists of the acclaimed and bestselling Logicomix, team with writer and academic Kawa for an incisive and entertaining visual history of the roots of democracy. This journey is a saga comparable to epics such as Frank Miller’s 300 and Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze, with a touch of Jack Kirby’s wondrous mythological civilizations. Greek hero Leander functions as the entry point, giving the book striking immediacy and personality as it traces the historical transition from his society’s utter faith in the Greek gods to the beginnings of modern politics. Papadatos’s lively and energetic art illuminates battles, alliances, political machinations, and vivid personalities, and Di Donna’s intense coloring is gloriously rich without a touch of gaudiness. For those interested in further background, the extensive back matter features useful commentary on both legendary and historical figures and concepts. Like Logicomix, this is a brilliantly realized stealth education. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"For all that Democracy wrestles with history and politics and these weighty matters, the story is accessible, entertaining and personal, and full of gods, action, romance and more. It’s fun, it’s heartbreaking, it’s thought-provoking, and it’s tragic—and it’s absolutely one of the greatest graphic novels I expect to read all year." —io9

"Simultaneously a standout historical examination and a compelling story." —Booklist (starred review)

"Each individual element wonderfully serves the whole. The look and feel of Papadatos’ art is such a huge part of what has been accomplished here that it must not only be commended, its many virtues must be recommended for repeated viewings, for studying, for close-up, detailed scanning, and for pulling back and taking in whole pages, sometimes two facing pages working together as one . . . Papadatos has animated, storyboarded, and directed in film. His cinematic talents are powerfully on display here . . . In any library of great graphic novels, Democracy can rightfully be placed on the shelf with Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Indeed, in any library of fine books of any kind, Democracy can be proudly added." —New York Journal of Books

"An incisive and entertaining visual history of the roots of democracy. This journey is a saga comparable to epics such as Frank Miller’s 300 and Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze, with a touch of Jack Kirby’s wondrous mythological civilizations . . . Papadatos’s lively and energetic art illuminates battles, alliances, political machinations, and vivid personalities, and Di Donna’s intense coloring is gloriously rich . . . Like Logicomix, this is a brilliantly realized stealth education." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Blending big ideas, dialectic tussles and absorbing narrative . . . Democracy offers a visual treat as much as an intellectual feast. Its artwork slides fluidly between domestic scenes, civic debate, supernatural commentary (Athena, Apollo and Dionysus have speaking parts), and Hollywood-style climaxes . . . The authors have fashioned not a dry civics lesson but an unfinished epic drama." —Independent

"Hugely ambitious . . . All tricked out in Papadatos's lean-limbed sweat and savoury cartoon-coloured art." —Sunday Herald

"This graphic historical novel from the authors of the hit Logicomix details the birth of democracy in war-torn Greece 2,500 years ago." —2015 Holiday Gift Guide, LA Times

From the Publisher

2015-06-15
A celebrated Greek writer and illustrator teams up with a cultural studies theorist and an animator to tell the story of the ancient origins of Athenian democracy. Best known for the graphic work Logicomix (2008), about a foundational quest in mathematics, Papadatos, along with Kawa and Di Donna (who also contributed to Logicomix), opens the tale in 490 B.C.E. with the Athenians at war with the Persian tyrant Darius. The book's main character and moral voice is Leander (of the ancient Greek myth of Hero and Leander), a young man with a talent for art who spends his days painting the stories of Greek mythology. In much the same way, Papadatos and his collaborators paint a vivid picture of ancient Athens with all its conflicts, conspiracies, old gods, and new greed. In time, Leander falls in with the aristocrat Cleisthenes, one of a triumvirate credited with the birth of democratic ideals, along with the statesmen Solon and Ephialtes. "Maybe something's coming," Cleisthenes says to the crowd. "Something that will crystallize Athenian culture into an entirely different form, one better suited to survival." Leander serves as the chorus, but he also stands for the common man as he struggles to understand how these new ideas are necessary to end the old system of tyranny and fear. This is fairly heavy history, but by presenting it in the graphic form, the creators leave the story open to interpretation while at the same time making a vital moment in world history accessible for younger readers. Kawa explains their thinking in a thoughtful coda. "We wanted to tell the story of people like us, who, throughout history, have to face the tidal waves brought on by…cataclysmic events—and make sense of them." World history teachers would do well to make use of this book, which includes a short afterword with commentary about the book's central characters, important sites, and other aspects of Athenian culture. A colorful love letter to Greek history.

Kirkus Reviews