Marjane Satrapi in Seattle

Of all the amazing work being done in the comics medium today, very few books bubble up from the comics-reading audience into the mainstream of literary recognition. While books like Love & Rockets, or more commonly, Watchmen, might get name-checked in periodic "Blam! Pow! Comics Aren't for Kids Anymore!" articles, and books like Blankets sometimes show up on adventurous year-end lists, not many comics manage to grab a foothold in that mainstream. Even though we have work like Chester Brown's Louis Riel, and Joe Sacco's "comics journalism" in Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde, only Speigelman's Maus seems to have any enduring presence in the minds of the general populace.

In light of this, it was great to see a packed house at Seattle's Town Hall (also the site of a recent Harvey Pekar appearance) for Marjane Satrapi's appearance, the final event in Seattle Public Library's "Seattle Reads Persepolis" series.

After a brief introduction from one of the event organizers, Marjane took over the stage. She had a lot to say, and said it very quickly, in a seemingly unbroken stream of ideas delivered in a fluent, but heavily accented English, drawing frequent laughter and applause from the crowd. It was a wide ranging talk, beginning with her recently gained French citizenship, and how having a French passport has changed the way she's treated while traveling. Apparently, an Iranian passport will get you asked what kind of weapons you're carrying, while a French passport prompts questions about what kind of cheese you have with you.

She spoke a lot about why Persepolis, her memoir of childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, was created as a comic (because the universality of images helped her communicate her story to a wider audience, and because the process of writing seemed linked with the drawing to her), and also about some of her choices in the structure and style of the book. For example, her decision to make the story black and white was partly motivated out of a desire to keep the violent scenes more abstract, feeling that the use of red for blood in theses scenes would rob the victims of some human dignity, turning them into "a piece of meat" on the page.

She also discussed some of the reaction to her choice of medium, including a couple of witty moments, like comparing cartoonists to bisexuals (to paraphrase: "You're heterosexual? Fine, no one has a problem. Homosexual? OK. But if you can't choose between sexes, or between words and pictures, then people have a problem!"), and her response to people asking why she didn't just write a book (again, paraphrasing: "But I did! I just used pictures to write it. Nobody asks the filmmakers 'Why didn't you dance instead?' or asks writers why they didn't paint a picture").

There was a lot of talk devoted to Iran, touching briefly on it's history and it's impact on Marjane herself. She made it a point to tell us that, even though she had recently become a French citizen, she still considers herself Iranian, or at least considers Iran a part of her (I can't remember her exact phrasing, and I don't have a transcript of the event). It's easy to see why, as the events detailed in Persepolis show a young woman growing up with a political consciousness at an early age, with the realities of revolution and warfare forced on her and her family in unavoidable ways as a matter of daily routine. Another memorable statement: Iranis like her mother, who she didn't choose, but will always be there. Paris, her new home, is like her wife, who she chose and will probably cheat on.

Next up, after her sprawling, engrossing talk, was a moderated Q&A session. Questions included her artistic influences and favorites (the usual suspects, such as Spiegelman, Ware, Clowes, and Sacco). She was also asked about her feelings on feminism, a label she rejects in favor of humanism. Frankly, my memory is a little hazy on this portion. Maybe if Serene remembers something I don't', she'll edit this post to add it (wink wink).

A brief standing ovation and signing session (with a line stretching all the way around the room) concluded the evening. It was great to see a packed house of readers, not just comic readers, for this event, and I'm sure it helps that book is not only incredible, but timely as well. Persepolis and Persepolis 2 are still widely available in bookstores, and come highly recommended from a variety of sources, and the Seattle Public Library will soon have DVD's of this event available, for locals who missed out.