Comic book journalism and the tragedy of New Orleans

By Tom Stoukas

When Brooklyn-based comic artist Josh Neufeld saw the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to the U.S. Gulf Coast he wanted to help in any way he could.

“It was just a really visceral response to the hurricane. I felt like I wanted to do something to help, whatever I could,” Neufeld explains over the phone from New York. “More than just sending some money. I wanted to see if I could actually lend a hand with my strong back.”

Neufeld had fond memories of New Orleans during his many travels and set out to return to the ravaged region as one of the thousands of relief workers that poured into the region. Neufeld called the local Red Cross to get information and training but didn’t know what to expect when he arrived.

As he flew into New Orleans, Neufeld was shocked at the scene he saw through the plane window, a view so different from his previous visits to the historic city.

“When you flew in you saw all the tarps on the roofs of the buildings that had been ripped off or shredded and these blue tarps that had been given to them by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That was a remarkable sight,” Neufeld recalls. “The first day we were there we did a little tour along the Gulf of Mexico where the storm surge had rushed in and blown everything away. That was just horrible and unbelievable and awe-inspiring to see that kind of devastation. It was like nuclear bombs had been set off all along the coast and miles in every direction.”

Neufeld has created fact-based comics in the past such as A Few Perfect Hours (and Other Stories from Southeast Asia and Central Europe), a collection of stories that chronicled his travel experiences during his twenties. But creating comics wasn’t his top priority.

“It was definitely in the back of my mind but not something that I thought really carefully even though some people who were reading my blog about that experience were saying ‘you’ve got to make this into a comic’,” Neufeld says. “When I got back home I did put together a collection of all of my blog entries from when I was down there. But it wasn’t a comic.”

It wasn’t until Neufeld returned to New York that the idea of a comic series came to the forefront. Larry Smith, creator of Smith Comics, an online comic site, suggested that Neufeld should turn his experiences in New Orleans into an online graphic novel.

“Larry Smith helped me figure out how to approach it, doing it as a story about other people rather than my own experiences,” Neufeld says. “That was really what made it come to life.”

The result was the online graphic novel, New Orleans: After the Deluge (A.D.). It told the story of a cross-section of New Orleans residents struggling to survive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A.D. was released as a 12-part serialized web comic on the website Smith magazine and tells the story of real people including Hamid, a resident who sends his family away but stays behind to protect his store from looters. Another group of people ride the storm out in the French Quarter unaware of the damage yet to come. Other stories are told of residents who fled and witness the devastation on TV from other states.

“Mostly I just want to feel like I told the story of a cross-section of New Orleanians in a way that was true and positive,” Neufeld says. “I think of myself as a reporter above all for doing this. Just to remind people that the disaster in New Orleans is still happening. That it’s not over, not everybody’s back to normal. “This comic is for people that don’t normally have a voice or don’t get a chance to get their stories out to the public.”

Neufeld’s journalistic coverage of Hurricane Katrina through the medium of comics seemed natural for the long-time cartoonist and he adds that comics have the potential, especially with the Internet, to reach audiences interested in issues and events that they might not otherwise read in books or newspapers.

One of Neufeld’s greatest influences is Joe Sacco, a pioneer of comic book journalism who achieved international acclaim with his 1996 American Book Award-winning Palestine, and his comic about the Bosnian War, Safe Area Gorazde. Neufeld sees a bright future for comic book journalism and its acceptance as an valuable source of information.

“Joe Sacco’s work has always been very influential to me. I definitely consider him the standard bearer for (comic journalism). “He does such a great job with it. It’s a mixture reportage and throwing yourself into the mix and admitting that your part of the story and not having to be objective but still addressing important issues and topics.”

Comic book journalism continues to hit the mainstream with the release of the film, Persepolis, an adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical comic that chronicles her life during the time of the Iranian revolution.

The Internet has been a natural fit for melding journalism into a comic book format. In creating A.D. online, Neufeld was able to bypass traditional print restraints such as finding a publisher and distributor, chores that can take months to complete. Publishing online also allows readers to give instant feedback and feel a deeper connection to the story.

“I feel like I have things to say and I want to share them and I want to know what people think even if they don’t like it I’d like to know rather than it just disappearing into a void. I really love feedback and I love discussing the reader’s responses with them and it makes me think about my own work more deeply and I feel like I have a connection with people out there.”

In an effort to expand the A.D.’s reach beyond cyberspace, Neufeld is currently talking with publishers who are interested in releasing a print version of the story and hopes that the public, the media and the Bush administration don’t forget the suffering in New Orleans that is still going on after almost three years.

“I’ve been there three times since the hurricane. There are some areas, the really poor black areas that have not improved at all and are in really poor shape. It’s kind of a real shame about the way that the country and the government are handling the rebuilding of New Orleans.”