Toxic Tropics: A Horror Story of Environmental Injustice

Oublié, former editor of Africultures magazine, investigates the effects of pesticide use in the West Indies in this comprehensive work of graphic journalism. After moving to Guadeloupe in 2018, she began to research the history and effects of chlordecone, a pesticide developed in the 1950s and widely used on banana farms starting in the 1970s. Oublié interviews experts, journalists, farmers, and others to unpack the scientific evidence of harms to humans and the environment. Depicting these in-depth conversations, she unspools a nuanced story of racism, business interests, governmental indecision, and infuriating imprecision about the alleged health effects, which range from cancer to autism. Info-packed dialogue leads to dense panels, but Gobbi inserts whimsical moments in the art, like an ecotoxicologist explaining her research while riding a crawfish and a debate on blame and responsibility depicted as a tennis match. Gobbi’s figures are lightly stylized, cartoony in a throwback European comics style, with detailed backgrounds. Interspersed throughout are photos of Oublié’s profile subjects, which effectively remind readers of the human cost behind the headlines. The result is a nuanced conversation starter about of the long tail of pollution. Agent: Ivanka Hahnenberger, VIP Brands. (Nov.)