Vaughan, Brian K. and Niko Henrichon. Pride of Baghdad.

The graphic novel Pride of Baghdad follows four lions who escape the Baghdad zoo after a bomb air-raid during the invasion of the United States in Iraq. The text puts forward a complex intertwinement of the animals’ struggle for survival with the violent chaos of human war that makes the narrative both a commentary on zoo-captivity as well as an allegory for the imperial and global conflicts in Iraq.

Secondary readings: 

• Magnum, Tessa and Corey Creekmur. 2007. “A Graphic Novel Depicting War as an Interspecies Event: Pride of Baghdad.” Society and Animals 15 (4): 405 – 408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853007X235564
• Desmond, Jane. 2013. “Humana Soldiers: Soft Power, U.S. Soldiers and the Baghdad Zoo.”In Esthetic Experiments: Interdisciplinary Challenges in American Studies, edited by Edyta Just, Marek Wojtaszek, 57 – 73. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.  
• Keen, Suzanne. 2011. “Fast Tracks to Narrative Empathy: Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization in Graphic Narratives.” SubStance 40 (1): 135-155. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1353/sub.2011.0003

Vaughan, Brian K. and Niko Henrichon. 2006. Pride of Baghdad. New York: DC Comics.