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European Comic With an African Flair

A young woman navigates shallow men, self-destructive friends and the newly erected class ladder in the prosperous city of Abidjan.The West African nation of the Ivory Coast won its independence from France in 1960, and thanks to agricultural development, it enjoyed a flourishing economy until the early ’80s. This graphic novel by Abouet, an Ivory Coast native, and French artist Oubrerie, is set in 1978, as Aya, the 19-year-old heroine, becomes increasingly aware of how money is reshaping her family and friendships. Her father, a manager for a local beer company, takes pride in his car, TV set and other trappings of a steady paycheck; her friends Bintou and Adjoua are obsessed with landing a wealthy husband, and they have enough free time to pursue suitors at the disco; Aya, for her part, aspires to attend college and become a scientist. This is mainly a breezy, colorful snapshot of middle-class Ivory Coast life at the height of the country’s boom years, in a tone that’s underscored by Oubrerie’s simple, loose and playful lines. And Abouet has imagined an appealing array of characters notable for their foibles, especially the imposing Mister Sissoko, the head of the beer company. (The TV show Dallas is visitors’ first reference point when entering his palatial estate, speaking of how closely the country took its cultural cues from the U.S.) A serious story is embedded in all this, though: Bintou and Adjoua both battle for the attentions of Sissoko’s son, Moussa, and when Adjoua becomes pregnant, the ensuing pages spark some interesting observations about the country’s class distinctions and the urge to save face. Given the intelligence that Abouet brings to the story, it’s unfortunate that Aya ends so abruptly, but it’s not a fatal flaw. The appendix, with a glossary, recipes and notes on native clothing, is a nice touch.A smart and sweetly comic glimpse of a time and place in Africa that get little attention in the West.

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The comics audience familiar with Drawn & Quarterly might consider them an alternative or small arts publisher, but regardless of size, this publisher’s catalog reflects the kind of broad sensibilities we’d expect of large book publishers. Alternative comics, indie, art, etc. can be used to describe D&Q, but this is publisher of both fiction and non-fiction. Comics just happen to be the medium in which the company works.

Their recent English-language version of the graphic novel Aya by Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrerie is an example of D&Q’s diverse line of adult-oriented comics fiction. The winner of the 2006 award for “Best First Album” at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Aya is a comedy – at once social, romantic, and domestic – built around the straight-laced Aya, a 19-year old African woman, with her mind focused on homework and a future professional career. The story is set in the Ivory Coast in the year 1978, a kind of economic golden age for the West African country.

Aya wants to be a doctor, much to the chagrin of her working class father, Ignace, though she gets encouragement from her mother, Fanta. Aya’s ambitions set her apart from everyone around her, especially her two close friends, Adjoua and Bintou. The only ambitions these young women have concern going out to party and have a good time with young men. Eventually, this duo finds itself at odds over Moussa, the only son of a prominent and wealthy family.

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Book details

• Aya by Marguerit Abouet
  EAN: 9780224081849
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