Die Löwen von Bagdad

Von Brian K. Vaughan und Niko Henrichon

Im Frühjahr 2003 entkam ein Rudel Löwen während eines amerikanischen Bombenangriffs aus dem Zoo von Bagdad. Verwirrt, hungrig, aber endlich frei, zogen diese vier Löwen durch die menschenleeren Straßen der Stadt im verzweifelten Versuch zu überleben. Brian K. Vaughan (Y: THE LAST MAN, EX MACHINA) und Niko Henrichon erzählen diese wahre Begebenheit aus der Sicht der Tiere, die in einen Konflikt geraten, mit dem sie wahrlich nichts zu tun haben, dem sie aber nicht entkommen können.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: DC COMICS bei Panini Comics
• Erscheinungsdatum: 29. Dez. 2020
• ISBN: 9783736711815

Buchvorschau

Rezensionen für Die Löwen von Bagdad

[stephmo_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Just prior to any moment of terrible destruction, there will be a million seemingly insignificant details of daily life like the boy momentarily searching for a lost toy, the woman on the phone complaining about a horrible date, the siblings fighting over the television, a lost set of car keys, even waking up from a horrible hangover. Any one of these can lead to a magnificent story.But does anyone consider the animals?This is what Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon do in Pride of Baghdad. In the destruction of 2003 American Bombing Raids of Iraq, the Baghdad Zoo's lions were able to escape. With Henrichon's breathtaking illustrations, Vaughan imagines life for this small pride as they realize that their fortunes have suddenly changed. The pride's story is fairly straightforward, but seems determined to pack in as much suffering as humanly (lion-ly?) possible in as short an amount of time as possible. While not expecting a Disney-esque wisecracking group of animals who sing happy tunes, this theme of constant suffering pushes away any idea of contemplating an earlier question of the nature of freedom in favor of simply wanting any form of respite for the pride. Because this, perhaps the overall story doesn't have the impact that it should.

[5eva5 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

This is absolutely wonderfully drawn, with a story that has a lot of potential to make a mark on your mind: animals' experiences during the bombing of Baghdad. However, the allegory is so over-obvious (there's even a lion "rape") that you wonder if the story hadn't been more interesting if it actually depicted humans instead of lions. I actually found myself getting a little angry that a story that could have been so poignant and thought-provoking was left to fizzle into this clunky mess.

[earthlistener · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A truly beautiful work not only for its actual great storyline and magnificent artwork, but also for it being a wonderful allegorical undertones focusing on various issues. Its certainly not the best and be all by any means, but I still enjoyed it greatly.

[hazzabamboo · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Good artwork, and some strong central ideas. The relationships between the lions, and the way they have to come to understand their place in the world relative to humans, is particularly well thought out, if a little overwrought at times.I was put off by a gratuitous undercurrent of unpleasantness though. The invasion of Irag and the iniquities of Saddam Hussein's regime is both tragic and repulsive subject matter. Nonetheless, some of the violence and exploitation at work in certain sections of Pride of Baghdad are closer to sickening than enlightening in any way. I got a sense that perhaps the authors revel in that a little too. This impression is actually one I often get from comics. I think it's a medium with huge potential, so it's a little disappointing to see fantastic art and (more rarely) good writing undermined by cheap brutality and cheap ideas.

[kraaivrouw · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

I got this because Todd Klein did the lettering. I adore his lettering - always easy to read yet suitable for the voice. While the lettering in this was good, I hated this comic. It demonstrates no understanding of the behavior of any of the animals portrayed and I loathe loathe loathe the Disneyfication of animals by superimposing human characteristics (including gender roles and relationships) on them. It's particularly loathsome in a book that is in theory using its story to explore the consequences of our hegemonic adventure in Iraq while happily applying its own cultural hegemony. Lions are fascinating from a behavioral perspective and deserve better than to be reduced to the level of Simba. Rawr.

[ecataldi-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

After a patron put this book on hold I was beyond intrigued. At first glance I just thought it was a graphic novel about the war but when I looked inside and saw their were lions, I knew I had to read it! Based on true events, this graphic novel follows four lions who escaped from a Baghdad zoo during an American bombing raid. Prowling through a city in ruins they ponder the true meaning of freedom. Can it be given or must it be earned? Without sacrifice is it as meaningful? Ground breaking and poignant, this is a fantastic read. Quick and concise and will leave readers with many questions and a new appreciation for the king of animals.

[sassafras_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Wonderful book. Nice illustrations. Very powerful story of freedom.

[katekf_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A powerful graphic novel that follows the story of four lions who escaped from the Baghdad zoo into the chaos of the 2003 invasion and died. The story begins in the zoo and ends on the bloody streets of Baghdad. Throughout the story, the lions discuss ideas of freedom and what it means to be caged and tamed as they work to survive. This is not an easy story and the illustrations don't stint on showing the violence of animals and of war. A high school student who is interested in more mature themes and comfortable reading graphic novels and comics could gain a lot from this book. On the other hand, it is a difficult work and so would not be recommended for a squeamish reader.

[lemurkat · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Exquisitely illustrated and containing some very clever lines, but ultimately a bit too depressing and dark. Short, vicious and violent.

[sweetkokoro-61371 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

** spoiler alert ** 2 stars for the art since it was good, 1 Star for the story. So basically 1.5 . Regardless if this is based on a true story, I did not like it. The rape wasn’t necessary, there are other ways to show how hard Safa’s life was in the wild. I didn’t care to see animals blown up, that was the only art panels I didn’t care for and that ending pissed me off. The male lion was shot unjustly from behind unprovoked and of course the rest would get frantic. Just no.

[tapestry100 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Very rarely a book will take me by surprise like this did. I was angry. I was sad. And I think everyone should read this book.I think part of the shock from this book is that I didn't know what was coming. I'd heard about Pride of Baghdad but didn't know anything about the story, so had gone into it blind, so if you want to read this and be just as surprised by the ending as I was, just skip the rest of this and go read the book.In 2003, American soldiers invaded Baghdad and in that invasion, the zoo in Baghdad was destroyed. Of the 650-700 animals housed in the zoo, only 35 survived the aftermath of the attack. Some of the animals were looted from the zoo and there was a group of lions that escaped and were roaming the streets of Baghdad. Four of these lions were shot and killed by American soldiers when they wouldn't return to their cages. Pride of Baghdad is Brian Vaughan's fictionalized account of this story through the eyes of these lions.The story follows Zill, Zafa, Noor and Ali, a pride of lions who escape from the zoo after it is destroyed by American forces and have a brief taste of freedom. They roam the city of Baghdad, encountering several other animals (a sea turtle, horses, another lion kept in private captivity who is close to death, and a blood-thirsty bear) and how they persevere as a small pride to survive their situation. Just as they come to terms with their freedom and come to understand it for what it is, they are all shot dead by American soldiers.To be honest, I couldn't believe what I read at first. I had to jump back and forth between pages to make sure I was understanding what was happening to the lions. While Vaughan obviously took liberties with the lions by anthropomorphizing them to make us feel more for them, when I discovered that this was based on a true story, I was even more outraged. Who knows exactly what happened to the lions, but the injustice of it seemed to quake through this book by the last page.Niko Henrichon's artwork is dazzling throughout the book. The emotion that he is able to render in the animals, their terror at the attacks from the American soldiers, their amazement at their freedom, all spills from each page. Don't let the fact that this is a graphic novel deter you from reading it. An incredibly powerful tale that will shock you by its strength, Pride of Baghdad is one story that will stay with you far after you've read it.

[hewayzha · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Beautifully done graphic novel. I love reading from the "perspective" of the lions and other animals they encounter as they try to survive the destrucion wrought by the human animal. I felt as if I was making the journey through the city with them. Hopeful at times and despairing at others. The ending is heartbreaking. It just reinforces the knowledge that when man makes war the innocent suffer. It seems to be a lesson humans find hard, perhaps even impossible to learn.

[questbird · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Lion's-eye view of American attack on Baghdad, 2003.

[japag_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Vaughan's and Henrichon's Pride of Baghdad is a rare treat. It's a graphic novel about a pride of lions getting free from the zoo amidst the bombings of Baghdad in 2003.The artwork is stunning. The coloring requires a special mention. Most of the book is colored in hues of red and orange, the colors of war and blood. Only in the more serene moments does the story go into a more peaceful blue. The colors are the reason why I thought that the end was nevertheless hopeful.The tale is based on a true story. Vaughan brings the different animals vividly into life and creates them believable personalities. I started to live with the lions and hoped for their safe journey into more free nature.Single, self-contained graphic novels are few and too far between nowadays. This is one of the best of its kind in the recent years.

[asxz-2 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Neatly done. Gets in and gets out without doing any damage and, though tonally inconsistent, there's enough there to land the dismount with a punch to the gut.

[mikemillertime · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

A fun read that imagines the real story of a pride of lions in the Baghdad zoo in wartime, the story explores the interesting familial relationships of the group as each member is challenged to survive and grow through their ordeal. This is a simple story with flashes of depth, constantly alluding to allegorical depth at the characters' predicament,. This book would've been a fine children's story except for some sexual innuendo and graphic gore. Also, the ending ultimately leaves something to be desired when (SPOILER) it also ends in calamitous heartbreaking tragedy, akin to the author's brilliant Y: The Last Man series.

[sanguinity · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

See the pretty kitties. See the pretty kitties pretend to be wise and flawed and profound. See the pretty kitties die. Wish that Vaughan had found something more interesting to do with his time.

[yarmando_3 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Finished, then turned around and re-read. A wonderful and moving story, with an entertaining surface but profound depths. The American invasion of Baghdad gives the zoo animals freedom, whether they want it or not. In the process their values, relationships, and sense of themselves is tested. An incredible work.

[benjaminhahn · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Sadly, the writing in this story was pretty bad. It could have been so good too. Four lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during the US bombing in the second Iraq war. So much to work with there, but alas, the dialog is poor and somewhat cliche .The artwork is pretty good though, albeit a little too "shiny" for my taste.

[librarycin · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

In 2003, four lions escaped the Baghdad Zoo, while Baghdad was being bombed. This is a graphic novel that follows the lions just before and after their escape.I really liked it. It just went too fast for me. I probably should have seen the ending coming, but I didn't. Even with reading the back of the book first, I still missed any and all symbolism. Only thought of it as I read some of the reviews afterward. I just really liked the story for the story, I guess.

[doublel_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

okay, i love me some vaughan, and this book got so much critical acclaim, i'm sure it seems weird that i'm giving it four stars instead of five. here's my beef with it, although incredibly, incredibly poignant and sad and often times horrifying, try as it might it was a little too politcaly high brow to come across as the great, easily accessable by the masses, aligory it could have. i think people who are very politcally current will have no trouble with this but as for everyone else who is looking for a new take on the heartbreak of the iraq war without being daily guardian readers are going to have a hard time.

[babydraco · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

The lion is the primitive totem animal of Mesopotamia so it makes perfect sense to choose lions to represent the modern Iraqi people. The family of lions in this graphic novel are accidentally freed from the zoo when American forces invade Iraq. They're no longer in cages, but now they live in a world with no rules and the once proud "Kings of the Beasts" are are struggling to take care of themselves. The ending is not pretty and should outrage anyone with a human heart.

[smiler69 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

A war story seen through the perspective of a pride of lions, two females , a male and a cub, freed from the Baghdad zoo along with most of the animals after a bombing. They make their way through the city looking for food and meet various adventures along the way. Based on true events, the lions were eventually shot by American soldiers. Sad, but a nice meditation on freedom. Beautifully illustrated in full colour.

[jillkenna · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This was an amazing graphic novel. I didn't know (or had forgotten) how the story played out so I was very surprised by the ending. I would highly recommend this book.

[v_various · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

I wouldn't count this among my favorites, the story is heavily steeped in symbols that it feels any story line aspects get ignored. I found the elements of the story didn't really flow together, it read like "A happened, then B happened, then C happened".I'd recommend this book to people who really like lions, but probably no one else.

[meditationesmartini · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

There's a big billboard on the wall of the art museum at my university showing two voluptuous minarets, gold and sky blue against a blue sky, with the legend "Because there was and there wasn't a city of Baghdad ...." It is massive and, especially on the backdrop of Vancouver's own skies of heavy impending grey, riveting. A cheap ambiguity and a stock photo, and it conjures up the full-blooded presence of a world that was very different from ours, but no less real, and when the artist was working must have appeared to have been gone forever. And I was just looking at Baghdad pictures in the effort to identify the mosque in question, and--although I have to say that a triumphalist retort to the piece (paid for by the Rumsfeld Foundation and the Project for a New American Century) could easily enough slap the words "Because there is and always will be a city of Baghdad" on a picture of the city's new $7 billion international airport, with the unexpected swooping light fixtures that evoke medieval vaulted ceilings--it wouldn't convince, because in the eyes of the world the old Baghdad is dead. The New York of the Middle Ages, the prosperous and cultivated yet suffering and scared capital of despots from the enlightened founder, al-Mansur, who tragically named it Madinat as-Salaam, the City of Peace, down to the (we'll say with what may be distressing understatement) unenlightened Saddam, is separated from the post-2003 world, much much more than America is from the pre-2001 world, by a traumatic break. An act--an age--of abject violence that, in our narrative, cuts Baghdadis (and Iraqis) off from who they though they were, leaves them shellshocked and paralyzed.
In our narrative, and I don't know how I feel about that. Either the Iraq war and the attendant crimes were a singular, irreducible obscenity that broke a people, dissociated a nation from itself. This is the West telling Iraqis that they can't maintain any continuity with their past, that all they can do is begin a new climb out of barbarism because we we we did something so evil. The other option, of course, is an optimism that effaces the depth of our, the West's, own collective crime.
That's the dilemma that Western writers who don't really know Iraq are going to face, and it's thorny, and it makes it hard to know exactly how to evaluate this confidently rendered and skilfully heartrending story. I think I am going to reluctantly settle on cutting it a bit of slack because it was 2006, and we were still embroiled in the Mesopotamian drama (as opposed to now, 2011, when nobody gives two fucks anymore--and Egypt too will soon fade, of course). It's not written out of a place of strong familiarity with Baghdad before the war, although Vaughan and Henrichon did talk to a lot of US soldiers, which kind of plays up the Catch-22 here. It's the fictionalized story of the four lions that escaped from the Baghdad Zoo after it was bombed to shit by the USAF in 2003. They wandered the city and, spoilers, I suppose, were eventually put down by American troops.
Like, not to hit you over the head with the metaphor here, right? The Iraqi people escaped from their Ba'athist cages after they were bombed to shit by the USAF in 2003. They wandered around trying to figure out what next, and many of them were put down by American troops. This is a tragic parable of what happens when the price of freedom is too high. The authors tell it effectively, with broad strokes, humour and pathos. The lions are afraid--some want to go back to their cages, others want to press onward and see a horizon again. When they do see it, over the bombed-out city, your heart leaps in a way that's equal parts Born Free and "A Nation Once Again" sung by the Wolfe Tones. But is it worth the price? You remember the "keepers". Stockholm Syndrome is at play. Pain is much and death is swift. But perhaps you would have survived better if you had stayed in the wild and kept those instincts sharp and not been domesticated and we can still read this as the-tree-of-liberty-watered-with-the-blood-etc.? But no, no kind of instinx would have gotten our pride away from those guns (and ouch, what a cutting play of words that is--the pride of Baghdad's people, shredded by assault rounds).
So they do a good job. the anthropomorphized animals are handled very well, the thing where they're not for kids is winked at but not ham-handedly hammered on like in so much funny-animals-for-grownups jazz (one of the funniest moments was the cub, whose name I can't remember but whom I'm gonna just go ahead and call Simba: "Do you think there are any other animals my age out there? I just can't wait to eat a baby goat!") It is a powerful story, and both the freedangerdom/safetyranny theme and the animal metaphor are well handled. I'd rank it higher if I could put to bed those doubts about how it would read to a person who lived through it all. I remember another funny moment, the Tigris turtle: "Giving names is how we know we own crap." The aptness of the phylocharacterizations of him and the lions and the demon bear prince Fajer and the canny antelopes and the breakdown of their negotiations with the lions and the way it recapitulates the tribal mistrust that burbles and erupts and undermines the hope for a better future ... and the trauma that persists and connects. It's compelling and convincing, and I just wish I could shake the feeling that it's not us doing that thing again where the Other is our distorting mirror, and daring then to represent them as seen through our coloured goggles.

[ocgreg34 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

In 2003, during an airstrike against Baghdad, part of the zoo is destroyed, allowing the animals to escape. Among them are four lions: Zill, the leader who has become complacent after his many years of captivity; Safa, the lioness who is afraid to flee the comfort of the zoo because of a dark secret in her past; Noor, the lioness who longs to break free from the zoo and to return to the wild; and Ali, the young male cub who knows nothing of life other than the zoo. Together, they journey through Baghdad, trying to learn what happened and how to survive in this new world.At first, I thought of it as an updated Lion King, with all the talking animals, etc., but some of the panels turned out to be much darker than I expected, and even though Henrichon's artwork is stunning, I gasped at the violence of them. The art combined with Vaughan's storytelling made the novel hard to put down, and once I finished it, I turned back to the start and re-read, taking more time to examine the panels, the expressions, the detail of the surroundings.

[syrin-1 · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

I've wanted to read this book for sometime now, not only because of the beautiful artwork, but because it's always interesting to read war stories from different perspectives. Maybe all that anticipation was the reason the story disappointed me so much.I was expecting a tale about the real life animals that escaped during the bombings, but found a poorly disguised allegory instead – and a preachy one at that. Yes, the war is terrible. Yes, the crimes, the deaths, the suffering is terrible. Yes, it shouldn’t have to happen again. We've heard that time and time again. But why should the animals – these animals - care? Would they really spend their time digressing about liberty and freedom, about masters and slaves, about the unrighteousness of all that's happened, instead of following their instincts?Instead of focusing on creating compelling characters that sounded like they actually could be real, we have unimaginative dialogs, an annoying cub who could be a Lion King rip-off, a weird fight with a bear, and ridiculous rape and sex scenes that add nothing to the story. Oh, and don't forget the obvious tragic ending.This theme, the true story of those lions, deserved a better graphic novel, something the authors just couldn't deliver.

[shirezu · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

I initially tried to read this a couple years ago but for some reason put it down straightaway. I can't remember my reasoning now but I should have kept going because this book was a lot shorter than I thought it would be.

Brian K. Vaughan is a good writer and the artwork was great but this was far too short. It really needed more to it. You're thrown straight into the story and then before you know it it's over.

I think I would have liked this more had it been a longer book. I think they could have told much more. A bit disappointing.

[sullywriter_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Stunning, moving war story told from the victim's perspective. In this case, lions from the Baghdad Zoo.