Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
This graphic novel by French artist Nicolas Wild has a clickbait tagline: “How I Managed Not to Be Abducted in Afghanistan.” I’ll admit I felt slightly cheated at the end, since as a reader, you keep waiting for something explosive to happen—where the author is “almost abducted” but manages to hoodwink the villains through his wit… oh tosh, maybe I’ve been watching too many films! But purely as a travelogue about a French illustrator taking on a temporary job in conflict-stricken Afghanistan, Kabul Disco is highly entertaining.
The graphic novel opens with Nicolas Wild being broke, struggling to pay his rent, so he applies to a job in Kabul on a whim, drawn by perks like accommodation, food, and even transport. The job is with a communications agency called Zendagui Media, owned by a bunch of white dudes who love to ski. Nicolas’s temporary role is to help illustrate comics explaining the Afghan constitution to children, alongside another illustrator. But before he can even get to Kabul from Paris, he ends up stuck for days at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan, his stopover, due to canceled flights to Kabul. Once he finally arrives, Nicolas has to adjust to Kabul’s harsh winter in his poorly heated staff quarters while trying to get along with his new colleagues and bosses.
Nicolas Wild and his colleagues live in a special expat bubble in Kabul, which he humorously illustrates through the pages. Some of his biggest setbacks in the country include rising cigarette prices, repetitive local food (at least he doesn’t have to cook), and dealing with a perpetually broken toilet. Sure, he gets lost on a trip once, and things get tense for a hot minute, but it all ends quite comfortably for our narrator. One of the more random assignments he takes on is photographing Afghan soldiers for an army recruitment campaign run by Zendagui Media.
“Colonel Shapur is asking if you’re a trained war photographer?” someone asks him during the shoot. “Not really. I’m a trained children’s-book illustrator,” Nicolas replies. This low-key hilarious moment in Kabul Disco made me think of startup culture and those long-winded LinkedIn job posts where candidates are expected to do 100 things that shouldn’t be part of their role. Nicolas also inserts several pages from the comic book he’s creating for Zendagui, which cleverly conveys the political climate in Afghanistan through his cartoonish illustrations.
I didn’t particularly enjoy Nicolas’s simple doodle-art style and feel that a more detailed approach might have made Kabul Disco visually compelling. However, it’s a super fun travelogue, and Nicolas injects comedy into the most mundane interactions. What began as a short-term gig taken out of financial necessity becomes a memorable rollercoaster for Nicolas Wild. Although he initially says he’s only there for a few months, he soon finds himself hoping for a contract renewal so he can continue his great Kabul adventure.
Rating: 4 on 5. ‘Kabul Disco’ is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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