In the Shadows of No Towers

     In the Shadows of No Towers by Art Spiegelman is a graphic novel memoir of Spiegelman's experience during and the American response to the terrorist attacks on September 11th.  The first aspect of the book that a reader will notice is that it is very large and the pages are thick.  This was to get the feeling of reading a newspaper from the turn of the century.  Spiegelman covers a wide range of topics from the chaotic nature of the actual attack of trying to get his daughter out of the school in the towers, to the, in his opinions, the outrageous response that the American government and people took after the attacks and how the concept of democracy is crumbling, just like the towers.

     Each page is splattered with artwork and comics that are each a separate story, yet they all connect to his overall critical theme.  Because of the erratic artwork, new readers to the graphic novel form my find it difficult because of irregular reading patterns that it forces on the reader.  I would recommend this novel for high school and up and it could easily be used in a text set surrounding 9/11 or the current political situations as an opinionated text.

Dave Pfeiff