Following the publication last year of the WWII memoir Alan’s War, First Second Books and artist Emmanuel Guibert have again teamed up to bring to the U.S. graphic novel market another tale a life shaped by war. The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders will go on sale May 12 with an initial print run of 20,000. The book tells the story of the late French photo-journalist Didier Lefèvre and his experience traveling with Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan in 1986. First published in France in three volumes, which sold over 260,000 copies, it has been translated into eleven languages.
The Photographer is a haunting and at times harrowing tale that highlights the cost of war on the people of Afghanistan while illuminating the humanitarian mission of the volunteers that work with Doctors Without Borders. The book combines Lefèvre’s photographs, laid out in a contact-sheet-style layout that makes the photos resemble comics panels, along with Guibert’s comics illustrations. Graphic designer Frederick Lemercier worked with the two to design the books.
Guibert based the text on interviews with Lefèvre (who died of heart attack in early 2007 shortly after The Photographer was completed) and picked from among 4000 of Lefevre’s photographic images on 130 contact sheets. Guibert consulted the photojournalist but was given “complete freedom” to choose among the photographs. Guibert established a set of “rules” for assembling the book: use the contact sheets (to take advantage of the resemblance between a contact sheet and a graphic novel page), never write or draw onto a photograph (other than the notes and markings originally made by Didier) and in the tradition of French photo-journalism and its emphasis on the “decisive moment”, never crop a picture. Although Guibert did brief research on Afghanistan, Guibert’s primary source for the book was Lefèvre’s images because he “really wanted to see the country through his eyes.” Alexis Siegal provided the English translation, as well as an introduction that puts the events into historical context.
Asked what drew him to The Photographer, First Second editorial director Mark Siegal, said, “I think comics do really great things, but they don’t often put tears in your eyes. “ Still, the process of publishing the 288-page, over sized volume was “full of obstacles.” In particular, the size, which raised the cost and makes the work difficult to shelve easily in a bookstore. He explained, however, “This is one of those books that can change the world and we must do this.” Siegal said he is pleased the book is being published in the wake of President Obama’s call to service and the United States’ renewed focus on Afghanistan, and said that he hopes, like Alan’s War’s story of a disenchanted World War II G.I., it may become “part of America’s conversation with itself.”
The book is just as important to Doctors Without Borders, according to Jason Cone, communications director at Doctors Without Borders. The organization has been aware of The Photographer since Guibert and Lefèvre were first working on it. “For us, it’s really a book that illustrates the purest form of humanitarian work,” he explained, adding that it is especially important that it shines light on the suffering of the people of Afghanistan. “The numbers of copies that have been sold speaks volumes to how that story can transcend cultures,” Cone said.
First Second and Doctors Without Borders will work together to promote The Photographer. Guibert and Juliette Fournot, director of the mission depicted in the book, will be in New York in May to speak about the book, and the artist will be a guest of honor at the Toronto Comic-Con. First Second and Doctors Without Borders are planning an exhibition of Lefèvre’s photography combined with excerpts of the book, likely to held at the Dumbo Arts Center in Brookyn, to coincide with the book’s publication. The First Second website already features an excerpt on its website, and the publisher is considering adding a lesson plan. Doctors Without Borders will also provide supplemental material on the book on its website on its site as well.
First Second continues its commitment to publishing books that illuminate history and political issues in innovative ways. In 2010 the house will also publish a biography of physicist Richard Feynman written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Leland Myrick; Booth, a biography of John Wilkes Booth by noted historian Catherine Clinton and a graphic novel adaptation of Benjamin Percy’s novel Refresh, Refresh, a story about boys waiting to hear from fathers off at war in Iraq, illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff.
