Johnny Jihad: A Graphic Novel
By Ryan Inzana
Published by NBM Publishing
New in stores this week is Johnny Jihad: A Graphic Novel, a politically charged and narratively nihilistic examination of Islamist extremism and U.S. culpability for same.
Inzana is a contributor to World War III Illustrated, and so you won't be surprised to learn his style is bleak, stark and raw, well-suited to the task of ruminating on the open wounds of September 11th. The story appears to be inspired by the story of John Walker Lindh, yet disavows that idea in the introduction. One wonders if the novel began as a fictionalized telling of Lindh's story but legal concerns got in the way? In any case, the lead character is a disaffected American youth who gets caught up in Islam and is turned this way by Islamist extremists and that way by the U.S. government (in the form of the CIA), until eventually he believes in nothing much at all and lays in wait for his own destruction.
It's an exhausting narrative, told with the sensitivity of a Jack Chick tract but with little apparent dogma being worked as a theme. Inzana doesn't have a clear axe to grind one way or the other, reasonably blaming both the U.S. and its policies and Islamist extremists and their activities for the ongoing cycle of violence and blame.
I found myself having to remember that this is a work of fiction -- it has the patina of autobiography, but given that there's no sources listed for Inzana's assertions within the story, it's difficult to judge the factual merit of what he presents. All of it seems fantastic, and yet we know from what has come to light about people involved in the struggle between U.S. imperialism and Islamist extremism that a lot of things in the book have probably happened much as Inzana presents them. I had a hard time getting past the fact that as a fictional work, though, everything is suspect and nothing is certain.
Johnny Jihad is a highly readable work, enjoyable and entertaining and I suppose it might even be enlightening, but I can't help but wonder how much more powerful it could have been if Inzana had committed himself to genuine journalism in comics form in the manner of Joe Sacco or Ted Rall. Further, the nihilism-fueled ending left me with many questions and virtually no answers, reminding me of that old Jim Starlin title "Just a Series of Events." Johnny Jihad is more that than a complete, satisfying graphic novel. As such it strives to be a worthwhile piece of the puzzle, but it offers no answers or even a clear point of view. Grade: 3.5/5