In 2008 the European Commission organised a competition to create a comic that would illustrate how Europe contributes in fighting suffering and injustice in the world. The winner turned out to be then 43-year old Erik Bongers, who had never published a full-fledged comic book before (even though he is a regular contributor to the Pulp Deluxe web magazine). In 2009 he submitted his completed script for Hidden Disaster and after some minor changes, the book finally saw print this week.
(cover to Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU)
Hidden Disaster’s story is set in Borduvia, a ficticious country somewhere in Eastern Europe that has fallen victim to a major earthquake. Zana is a bright and not unattractive woman working for the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Services, who gets involved in helping the Burdovians in their plight while keeping up her spirits, and her manners. As Bongers attests in the Flemish daily De Morgen, most of the changes the Commission made in the scenario involved language (everything had to be absolutely neutral – no swearing, no foul language and above all, no reference to any religion whatsoever). This fits rather nicely in with Bongers’ visual style, which clearly refers to the Ligne Claire of that other most gentlemanlike do-gooder, Tintin.
Originally, only a French and English print run was planned for the book, but the reactions to Bongers’ pages were very favorable. In the end, no less than 300,000 copies were printed in a variety of languages, including German and Italian. It is available for free on the European Commission’s Book Shop site, either as a paper copy or a digital PDF version.
Over the weekend, the British Daily Telegraph newspaper (not noted as the most European friendly publication – Joe) already printed a less than favorable reaction, with journalist Robert Mendick making fun of the supposedly thin storyline and fuming against the book’s £200,000 price tag. Matthew Elliott,Chief Executive of the Taxpayers Alliance is quoted as saying: “It is deeply immoral to use taxpayers’ money to promote the EU to children. This is pure political propaganda aimed at kids, which is a classic tactic of corrupt and unaccountable regimes down the ages. The EU seems to think it can buy itself popularity, but instead it simply makes itself look more out of touch and wasteful.”
Bongers is not suprised by this reaction, but reacts by putting things into perspective : “The purpose of the book is making clear to adults and youngsters alike what European humanitarian aid means. Many of the books are supposed to end up with readers who want to learn a second language.” He adds, “It’s quite ironic that the first order of books came from two English teachers’ conferences“.
(Zana finds a drowned village in Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU; nice, clear artwork, not sure about those square speech bubble though...)
It’s not the first time that the European Union uses comics to illustrate and explain itself to the people. In 2002 Belgian cartoonist Dominique David created Troubled Waters, a political thriller set to the backdrop of the European Parliament. Like Hidden Disaster, this book is still available, for free, at the EC Book Shop, in paper and PDF formats.
Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and would like the European Union people to know he is available to translate comics and he’s good value for taxpayers; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog
March 1st, 2010 at 8:55 am
Thank you for the review, Wim.
One small correction – my age is 41.
And hey, I just like square speech bubbles!