The first Egyptian graphic novel, The Metro, was confiscated by the authorities last week a few months after its publication, writes Rania Khallaf Magdy El-Shafie, author and cartoonist of The Metro, widely regarded as the first Egyptian graphic novel, last week received a summons to appear before the state prosecution service following the confiscation of his novel from the publisher, Malameh. Mohammed El-Sharqawy, head of Malameh, also received a summons, this time following 15 days spent in prison as a result of his participation in the 6 April strikes. According to the state prosecution service, El-Shafie's graphic novel, his first, contains obscenity and libelous references alleging corruption on the part of prominent Egyptian political figures. The confiscation of the novel has caused some in Egypt's cultural community to recall previous such incidents, including when the novel A Banquet for Seaweed by Syrian novelist Haydar Haydar was confiscated on similar charges in 2000. However, while previous cases of the confiscation of books on charges of obscenity or blasphemy were instigated either by representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood sitting in the People's Assembly, the country's parliament, or by articles in the newspaper Al-Sha'ab, considered the mouthpiece of the Islamists in Egypt, this time the actions came as a result of a public investigation into the novel following charges of obscenity. "All copies of the novel were taken from the shelves of the Malameh publishing house even before the investigation started," El-Shafie told the Weekly in an interview. El-Shafie's graphic novel tells the story of a young man, Shehab, who, together with a friend, Mustafa, robs a bank. According to El-Shafie, the novel grew out of his love for foreign comic strips and memories of childhood reading. "Like any child, I fell in love with Mickey and Tintin. When a teenager, I read a graphic novel by the Italian writer Hugo Pratt in a magazine that featured the story of a lieutenant who discovers that he is fighting on the wrong side during a war." "I've always loved cartoon strips, and I used to wonder why Egyptian writers didn't tell their stories in graphic form. With the help of a French cartoonist, Golo, who used to live in Egypt and published caricatures in the newspaper al-Gomhouriyya, I learned more about cartoon strips." While the genre of the graphic novel is new to the Arab book market, graphic novels are bestsellers in the United States and France. However, graphic novels cannot be considered an entirely new fashion in Egypt, since Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs could themselves be considered a form of graphic storytelling. The first graphic novel properly so called was published in the US in the mid 19th century. Thereafter, cartoon magazines began to appear, culminating in the first decades of the 20th century in such iconic comic-book figures as Tintin. Today, the market for adult graphic novels is booming, especially after the translation into English of the award-winning cartoon-strip autobiography Persepolis by the Iranian writer Marjane Satrapi, who lives in Paris. The two parts of this work put the graphic novel on the international map as a serious art form, becoming international bestsellers and adapted into a successful film. According to Egyptian graphic designer Ahmed El-Labad, El-Shafie's work is "a very good introduction to the world of cartoon novels." "Entertainment should not be confined to children alone," he said. "Adults, too, need this sort of comic novel, which can convey various messages to readers." Defending his use of the genre in The Metro, El-Shafie described the novel's confiscation as "shocking." "Instead of seeking to discuss the book and its ideas and to encourage the new climate of cultural activism we are seeing in Egypt, the authorities have chosen the path of relentless investigation," he said In describing recent publications that have influenced him, El-Shafie pointed to Being Abbas El Abd, a 2003 novel by Egyptian novelist Ahmed El-Aidy, which adopted a new way of writing that mixes the colloquial language with a style derived from sms messages sent on mobile phones. This paved the way for other authors looking for new ways of storytelling, El-Shafie said, who hopes his novel will stimulate others to write other graphic novels in the future. El-Shafie also mentioned the influence of bloggers on the style of his book. "Bloggers first appeared in Egypt in 2004 during the demonstrations calling for more democratic freedoms at the time. Their writing was raw and sincere and not based on any particular ideology. It affected me a great deal." Told in black and white, the plot of the novel takes place in the Cairo district of Maadi, which is seen as divided into two sharply polarised parts: the part lived in by the upper middle class and the part lived in by the poor. It dwells on the lives of the poor, showing how Wanas, one of the novel's characters, resorts to begging after the government demolishes the kiosk he uses to mend shoes and earn a living. It opens with a statement by Shehab to the effect that "today, I have decided to rob a bank." The author uses the idea of a trap as a theme throughout, showing how this can function as a symbol of how society as a whole is "trapped" in one way or another. All of us are caught in one vast trap, Shehab says bitterly at one point, "waiting for someone to throw us a piece of cheese." How to get out of this trap becomes the main theme of the novel, each part of which bears the name of one of Cairo's underground metro stations. A comment appears at the head of each section, sometimes having a political content. Of the Sadat station in the centre of Cairo, for example, the comment is that "this is not a popular intifada; this is the intifada of thieves" in a reference to what Sadat said about the food riots of 1977. Of the Mubarak station, the comment is that "Egypt's population is increasing. But what can I do?", a statement made in a number of speeches by President Mubarak. The novel also refers to allegations of corruption in Egypt and to bank loans allegedly made to prominent officials without the necessary guarantees. The unemployment of university graduates is mentioned, as are demonstrations by the Kefaya opposition movement and alleged abuses by the police carried out against demonstrators. The Metro also makes criticisms of the media, particularly through the character of television presenter Mufeed Fawzy, known for his pro- government stance. Brilliantly told is a story of a farmer who manages to collect one hundred rats in a cotton bag, without the rats being able to eat the bag and escape their trap. However, despite its critical tone and its novel form, The Metro ends in a rather conventional manner. Betraying his friend Shehab, Mustafa leaves the country with the money the two have gained from the bank robbery, leaving Shehab to face his girlfriend Dina, a journalist and a political activist. His relationship with her seems to allow him to start a new life, "outside the dark tunnel of the metro." Despite the confiscation of his debut novel, El-Shafie now plans a new project with writer Ahmed Nagui. This project, another graphic novel, will apparently feature the story of a young woman and her relationships with four different men.
