The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Complete Persepolis
By Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon
This anthology of Marjane Satrapi’s two-volume autobiography (four in its original French edition), Persepolis, bares the subtitle: Now a Major Motion Picture. A small seal on the front cover reflects the sentiment, adding, impressively, that the movie adaptation of the work is the “winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize,” located just under the primary picture, drawn by Satrapi, which is a slightly altered version of the movie poster art.
Aside from a large, gushing quote about the original work courtesy of Time Magazine, the back cover is also devoted to the cinematic work, offering up the URL of the movie’s site, and stills from the film.
The adaptation of Satrapi’s work, is animated (and French), thankfully, so there’s no big airbrushed image of some Hollywood starlet airbrushed and decked out in a headscarf. In fact, aside from these superficial changes, the interior of the book remains untouched, containing, simply, an old page-and-a-half introduction from Satrapi, briefly detailing how the history of Iran lead to the creation of the book, and the complete, unbroken story.
That the inclusion of the film is minimum is, of course great news—as lauded as it has been thus far, Satrapi’s graphic masterpiece deserves to stand on its own right. As such, Pantheon has thankfully opted to leave it untouched, hoping that the handful of less than subtle reminders that adorn the exterior of the book will be enough to persuade fans of the film to pick this collection, which shaves a good $.95 off cost of buying the two parts seperately.
In fact, it’s hard to say exactly who this volume is for. Had Pantheon issued it solely to satiate the deluge of interest that will no doubt follow the film’s December 25th release in the States, one would imagine that they might have put more effort into a movie tie-in, perhaps including a insert of glossy movie art and some background on the production, or at the very least, a rewritten introduction.
Were The Complete Persepolis targeted at comics fans, it could have taken a cue or two from the output of Fantagraphics or Drawn & Quarterly. The former’s soon-to-be release reissue of Joe Sacco’s Palestine serves as a terrific template. The “Special Edition” finds his work beautifully bound, with a new introduction from the author, another by intellectual, Edward Said, detailed excerpts from Sacco’s notebook, and “outtake” drawings from the artist’s sketchbook. At $29.95, the Sacco special edition is five bucks more than Persepolis, but that is likely a small price for the sort of fans likely to pickup a new book in addition to the older versions already oin their shelves. As it stands, there’s no absolutely no compelling reason for anyone who currently owns volumes one and two of Satrapi’s book to pick up this new edition.
That said, Perseoplis is one of the most honest, intriguing, historically informative, and compellingly literary works of the decade, and certainly ought to be on the bookshelf of anyone who frequents this site. This new volume is as a good format as any other, and heck, who couldn’t stand to save that extra $.95?
–Brian Heater
