Visual Media

The 911 Report: A Graphic Adaptation

Connecting the dots

This is a comic book version of the 911 Commission Report. No joke. It takes the narrative of the official National Commission Report and transforms it into a page-turning thriller. It’s a very fast read. Their visual timeline of the four hijacked flights is scarily clarifying. The artists do a marvelous job of weaving the many threads that lead up to the event of 911. In fact before reading this I had not appreciated how interconnected the many previous encounters with the jihad network were. This graphic book also reveals in simple pictures how seriously the government bungled many early clues, how sadly it bungled its real-time response to the events and how it continues to bungle the complexity of this new world. The comic does all this while remaining faithful to the the Commission’s text, yet underscoring its clarity by telling the story in pictures. It’s a showcase for the power of the cartoon media. Highly recommended.

-- KK 12/20/06

Excerpt

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