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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Sid Jacobsom and Ernie Colon Publisher: Hill and Wang |
Authors Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon have condensed the nearly 600 page Final Report of the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States into a 130-page comic book, “The 9/11 Report.” The term
comic book is used very loosely, because there is nothing funny nor heroic in these pages. This is a sober,
respectful examination through color, line and shading of the unimaginable acts of terror which reached the shores of
the United States five years ago. It's even far less appropriate to call it a graphic novel. It's a literal illustration of the
Commission's prescription to prevent similar attacks in the future.
Readers move through this book on a journey of pain, frustration, incredulity and anger as the Commission details
the permeability of United States airline security in 2001, the chaotic and ill-equipped response to the attacks, and
how Osama bin Laden announced his intent, through a well-publicized fatwa, in February 1998 which called for the
murder of Americans as "the individual duty for every Muslim."
The report, simplified into pictures and palatable text, charts the rise of al Qaeda and bin Laden, traces the roots of
modern terrorism back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s and illustrates how the 1993 bombing
of the World Trade Center should have been a blinking red light, along with the bombings of the USS Cole and the U.
S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
Jacobson, the creator of Richie Rich at Harvey Comics, and Colon, who has worked for Marvel and DC Comics, give
the 9/11 tragedy to us in a more digestible form than the Commission's doorstop volume, which is this generation's
Warren Commission Report on the Kennedy assassination, something everyone knows they should probably read,
but never do. The result is gripping, informative and heartbreaking.
One significant advantage Jacobson and Colon's book has over the dry bulk of the Final Report is its ability to show
a timeline for the morning of September 11. For a dozen pages, four separate narrative strips run horizontally across
the page so we can see where each plane was in relation to the other. Is it painful to see, even in pastel color wash,
flight attendants and pilots being stabbed and passenger planes turned into "large guided missiles, loaded with up to
11,400 gallons of jet fuel"? Yes, excruciatingly painful; but in the inky hands of the illustrators, it's also a work of
instructive art. It's art that hurts, but perhaps one day will help everyone in the United States to heal.
But first, the Commission warns, we must steel ourselves: "The lesson of 9/11 for civilians and first responders can
be stated simply: in the new age of terrorism, they are the primary targets. The losses of that day demonstrated the
gravity of the threat and the need to prepare ourselves. We must plan for the next attack. This is perhaps the best
way to honor the memories of those we lost that day."
Again, this book is in no way a fun comic book, but instead a more accessible form of a text that all Americans should
read. The attacks are handled in a respectable way and those who take the time to read “The 9/11 Report” is a
great tribute to those who die on that terrible day and reminds those of the fear and devastation caused on that day
in 2001.
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States into a 130-page comic book, “The 9/11 Report.” The term
comic book is used very loosely, because there is nothing funny nor heroic in these pages. This is a sober,
respectful examination through color, line and shading of the unimaginable acts of terror which reached the shores of
the United States five years ago. It's even far less appropriate to call it a graphic novel. It's a literal illustration of the
Commission's prescription to prevent similar attacks in the future.
Readers move through this book on a journey of pain, frustration, incredulity and anger as the Commission details
the permeability of United States airline security in 2001, the chaotic and ill-equipped response to the attacks, and
how Osama bin Laden announced his intent, through a well-publicized fatwa, in February 1998 which called for the
murder of Americans as "the individual duty for every Muslim."
The report, simplified into pictures and palatable text, charts the rise of al Qaeda and bin Laden, traces the roots of
modern terrorism back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s and illustrates how the 1993 bombing
of the World Trade Center should have been a blinking red light, along with the bombings of the USS Cole and the U.
S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
Jacobson, the creator of Richie Rich at Harvey Comics, and Colon, who has worked for Marvel and DC Comics, give
the 9/11 tragedy to us in a more digestible form than the Commission's doorstop volume, which is this generation's
Warren Commission Report on the Kennedy assassination, something everyone knows they should probably read,
but never do. The result is gripping, informative and heartbreaking.
One significant advantage Jacobson and Colon's book has over the dry bulk of the Final Report is its ability to show
a timeline for the morning of September 11. For a dozen pages, four separate narrative strips run horizontally across
the page so we can see where each plane was in relation to the other. Is it painful to see, even in pastel color wash,
flight attendants and pilots being stabbed and passenger planes turned into "large guided missiles, loaded with up to
11,400 gallons of jet fuel"? Yes, excruciatingly painful; but in the inky hands of the illustrators, it's also a work of
instructive art. It's art that hurts, but perhaps one day will help everyone in the United States to heal.
But first, the Commission warns, we must steel ourselves: "The lesson of 9/11 for civilians and first responders can
be stated simply: in the new age of terrorism, they are the primary targets. The losses of that day demonstrated the
gravity of the threat and the need to prepare ourselves. We must plan for the next attack. This is perhaps the best
way to honor the memories of those we lost that day."
Again, this book is in no way a fun comic book, but instead a more accessible form of a text that all Americans should
read. The attacks are handled in a respectable way and those who take the time to read “The 9/11 Report” is a
great tribute to those who die on that terrible day and reminds those of the fear and devastation caused on that day
in 2001.
