As a child, an all-time favourite comic of mine was ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ written by Bill Watterson. The comic is based upon Calvin, a carefree and imaginative six year old boy and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. The unique aspect of the comic is the fact that Hobbes is an inanimate stuffed toy to everyone except Calvin, who in his eyes is very much alive and often displays human characteristics. Set somewhere in the United States, it provides the reader with a humorous and enjoyable read about growing up captured through the eyes of a child while at the same time touching upon more serious issues such as politics and questioning the meaning of life. To my understanding, comics are supposed to be light hearted and designed to entertain. The definition of the word ‘comic’ can be seen as something “provoking laughter; humorous; funny; laughable” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comic) which coincides my thought on the genre. While there are comics which do incorporate more mature themes such as satire and dark comedy, at the end of the day their job ultimately is to make the reader laugh, or at least so I believed.

After reading ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi, it became apparent that my previous beliefs about comics were inaccurate to say the least. Although ‘Persepolis’ is considered widely as a graphic novel rather than a comic, in the end it still fits under the wider definition of the comic genre. ‘Persepolis’ is set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, seen through the eyes of a 10 year old girl, Marji. While the premise of ‘Persepolis’ is similar to ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ as both revolve around the nature of growing up, the differences between the two comics could not be more contrasting. When reading ‘Persepolis’ I found myself doing anything but laughing, due to the serious nature of the plot’s setting, even though there are a few attempts at comic relief by the author. Issues raised in ‘Persepolis’ include imprisonment, war and torture; images I never imagined would be found in comic strips. With that being said, by portraying such explicit themes in a comic, Satrapi manages to highlight the magnitude of the situation of a child growing up in such a volatile climate to full effect. Not only has ‘Persepolis’ been an eye opener in relation to the events that happened in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, it has revolutionized the way in which I view the genre of comics. However much I enjoyed ‘Persepolis’ and believe it to be a great read, I am left contemplating a dilemma. Should comics delve into topics such as torture? Is the purpose of comics not to make people laugh?