Books & more: Welle und lächle

Afghanistan, that's somehow complicated and if you want to understand what's going on there, you have to read at least 20 books. Somehow true, but maybe by now, it's enough to grab a comic instead. Arne Jysch has released a "Graphic Novel" that revolves around the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan. What can come out of depicting such a topic?

Something quite excellent comes out of it, because Jysch has listened carefully to how the soldiers in the Hindu Kush are doing, and so many facts are embedded in the story - a journalist visits the German troops, the helicopter is shot down on the way and a German soldier is abducted, his comrade sets out to search - that you do learn a bit to understand what it's about: the bureaucracy, which is absurd.

The caution that soldiers should not fight. The role of the Americans, that of the Afghan population, their expectations and the significance of the Taliban. And in addition, the illustrator and writer manages to turn the book into a coherent, exciting story worth reading.

"Wave and Smile," by Arne Jysch, Carlsen Comic, 2012, 200 pages. The book is available in bookstores or on Amazon for Euro 19.90.

Images from the book: the helicopter being shot down.