September 11 Published

With the fifth anniversary of September 11 drawing near, many related books are being released this and next week. One of the most intriguing is The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. Both have a rich history in comics: USA Today explains, "Jacobson, 76, created Richie Rich and was executive editor of Marvel and Harvey Comics, and Colon, 75, drew Casper and Wonder Woman" - but the book is a graphic interpretation of The 9/11 Commission's report on the events of Septemer 11, because they found it difficult to get through the 568-page report. Colon said, "For a government report, it was well written, but still hard to follow — lots of Arabic names, and a lot of things going on at the same time in different places." Slate has been excerpting the book, and from those excerpts, it seems to work very well.

Here's an NPR interview with Jacobson and Colon about making the book. And 9/11 Commission chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton think the book is worthwhile; Kean said to the Washington Post, "When I first heard about it, I was very concerned. But when I looked at it, it was absolutely accurate." Kean and Hamilton even wrote the foreward for the graphic novel. [Via Brooklyn Heights Blog]

And in this weekend's NY Times Book Review, Garrison Kellior reviews David Friend's book, Watching the World Change, which uses photographs taken during the September 11 to tell the story. From Kellior's review:

A brief review can’t do justice to “Watching the World Change,” a lucid, thoughtful and wide-ranging book. In truth, Friend’s excellent writing conveys more of the truth of the day than photographs can. The picture of the three firemen raising an American flag over the ruins, which became an icon of 9/11, is not nearly so gripping as the story he tells of the exploitation of the picture, the feelings of the photographer, Thomas Franklin, and the stoical refusal of the three firemen to be lionized (though they did approve plans for a bronze statue of themselves, 18 feet tall on a 12-foot marble pedestal).