My girlfriend saw this comic at the bookstore last week and bought it for me, thinking I would like it. She was right. It is an autobiography of a woman growing up in Iran during the revolution to overthrow the Shah and the subsequent war with Iraq. Told with charmingly simple black-and-white artwork, the story is both funny and gripping. I couldn't put this one down.

The critical reviews on the jacket draw the inevitable comparison to Maus. To the extent that they both lend dry humor and wit to a heartbreaking story, that comparison is probably fair. Persepolis is different, though, in that it does not focus on a perilous story in dangerous times; rather, it shows how political and cultural upheaval gradually encroach on a middle-class existence that most Americans would otherwise find very familiar.

The publishing of this book is obviously very timely, as it reminds one that many people living in the 'axis of evil' are no different from the average westerner. In Persepolis, we see Iranians going to college, driving to work, buying records and shopping in supermarkets. It's power is in depicting revolution and war as intrusions on such mundane and familiar settings. It demonstrates that the main thing that differentiates a country like Iran from the west is the presence of a vast, impoverished and poorly-educated underclass that is easily swayed by charismatic religious fanatics.

Er, that does sound different, right?