The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, Nate Powell (Illustrator)

Summary:
As the civil rights struggle heats up in Texas, two families—one white, one black—find common ground. This semi-autobiographical tale is set in 1967 Texas, against the backdrop of the fight for civil rights. A white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood in the suburbs and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston’s color line, overcoming humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman.
The Silence of Our Friends follows events through the point of view of young Mark Long, whose father is a reporter covering the story. Semi-fictionalized, this story has its roots solidly in very real events. With art from the brilliant Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole) bringing the tale to heart-wrenching life, The Silence of Our Friends is a new and important entry in the body of civil rights literature.
Summary taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 208 pages
Source: Toronto Public Library
Publication Date: January 17th 2012 by First Second         


When I found this one in the library I was really excited to read it, because  I'm always very interested in the civil rights struggle and I had seen some pretty decent reviews of this one floating around the internet so I thought why not? Let's give it a go.

Now while I understand that the author used some of his own experiences in writing the graphic novel I thought that the story line was flat. The graphic novel started out on a high note, but it quickly went down hill because the story was so fragmented in my opinion it was hard to know what was going on because it jumped so wildly from page to page in terms of the story line.

I will say thought that the author did give a good portrayal of the south during this period and that came through in the illustrations which I thought were really good, I thought the style of the artwork suited the time period in which the grqaphic novel was set and for me the artwork was the only thing that I enjoyed about the graphic novel.

I probably wouldn't recommend this graphic novel to anyone just because of how I felt about it though don't let that stop you because I seem to be in the minority for this one.  If you are going to try it be warned there are some racial slurs in it as well as a few F-Bombs as well.

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Not for me!
★