Kabul Disco Vol.1: How I managed not to be abducted in Afghanistan

Kaboul Disco #1

by Nicolas Wild, Mark Bence (Translator), Felicity Still (Translator)

A broken artist has to explain the Afghan Constitution to the overwhelmingly illiterate population through comic books featuring the adventures of a war orphan. He has about 24 hours to catch up on the history, politics, customs, problems, and the Constitution of a country he knows nothing about. Also, Kabul is kinda freaky - people get kidnapped, it's cold as hell, and the threat of violence is omnipresent. Wild brilliantly explores the differences between the Afghan cultures around him and his own, as he and his friends crash an Ashura celebration and are certain they're done for, only to end up on a balcony drinking tea and musing on the differences between Christian Easter egg hunts and Islamic penance.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Bande Dessinée, Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir, Biography Memoir

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2007

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nicolas Wild tells his story as an artist working in Afghanistan. The overall impression I got is that the expatriates working in Afghanistan had little regard for the local people and culture.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

With few options available to him, Nicolas Wild decided to accept a job offer to travel from France to Afghanistan and work for a private company making educational cartoons explaining the new Afghan constitution. Somewhere in the middle, the job swings around to creating recruitment propaganda for the Afghan army.

Wild treats life in a war zone as a lark -- tossing off a string of vaguely interesting anecdotes about the vaguely colorful people he encounters -- until he finds himself locked down at home and work due to a kidnapping and concerns about impending attacks. Even then though, his tone remains more "check out this weird trip I took," with the impact of of his time in Afghanistan leaving him seemingly unchanged from the first page to the last.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit that it was the title of this graphic memoir that drew me in. I mean, who can resist it? You is who. This is a strange and not compelling tale of how the author, broke and unemployed, ended up in working in Afghanistan. I didn't care about this dude and his slice of life moments, but I liked the art enough to round up.

[Leylak Dalı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitabın çizeri-yazarı 2005'te savaştan çıkmış Afganistan'a yeni anayasayı çizgilerle anlatacak bir proje için gider ve orada yaşadıklarını bir çizgi romanda toplar. Bir Fransız'ın bakış açısıyla Afganistan, son derece keyifli bir kitaptı, listenize ekleyin derim.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by a pal—this probably would have never shown up on my radar otherwise.
Based on the author’s experience as a comic book artist and graphic designer in Afghanistan in 2005, this was an interesting look at the country through a French expat’s eyes. I liked Wild’s observational humor, and the artwork was really good.
Even though my own experience living abroad was quite different—I taught English in Bogotá in 1994—there were elements of the narrative that resonated and made me nostalgic. Living in another country has such surreal moments, and Wild captured that several times in the midst of his larger story.
I was glad he included the excerpts at the end from his first assignment, a comic book series designed to teach lessons about the country’s constitution. It was neat to see.
I was left a bit unsatisfied by his abrupt ending, and also because there was no real explanation why he stayed on with Zendagui Media when they started doing propaganda art for the Afghan army. It was clear he wasn’t comfortable with it, but he still stayed, presumably because he wanted to lengthen his stay.
If you’re a fan of autobiographical graphic novels and travel narratives, you should take this one for a spin.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicolas Wild bu işi iyi yapan ender çizerlerden biri bence. Hem bu maceralara atılıyor, hem orada iş yapıp para kazanıyor hem de yaşadıklarını yazıp çiziyor. Bu güzel bir iş. Anlattıklarıyla bizler için bir persfektif oluşturmuş oluyor. Fakat bu kitabında ülke ile ilgili ya da yaşayış ile ilgili daha az bilgi yer almakta. Orada yaşayan çalışan yabancıların durumu hakkında detaylı bir bilgi verilmiş. İkinci cildinde belki daha fazla ülke detayı ya da şehir detayı görebiliriz.
İkinci cildi büyük merakla bekliyoruz esen kitap :)

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai adoré suivre les aventures et mésaventures de Nicolas Wild en Afghanistan (même si on a bien cru qu'il allait décider de rester en Azerbaïdjan, hein -lisez l'album pour capter la blague !) dans ce milieu si particulier des "expats".

C'est à la fois drôle et instructif et le trait des dessins m'a beaucoup plu.

Hâte d'enchaîner avec le tome 2, au titre prometteur !

[Oneirosophos · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was... unbelievably amazing!

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicolas Wild describes his experience as a French illustrator in Afghanistan and it's incredible. The drawings are fine but everything that happens is so confusing and crazy I was frustrated that I wasn't better able to make sense of the political history it brings to life. I think I was wanting Nicolas or any other character to take a stand and follow through on something meaningful, but everybody just seemed so opportunistic and not all that committed to anything deeper than themselves.

[Piet · Rating 2 out of 5]

It largely shows the isolated life of western expats in Kabul, showing almost no interaction with local people. No in depth journalism, nice story though.

[The Laughing Man · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad memoir I liked his style, reminds me of Guy Delisle a lot , I'm always open to learning more about what goes on in Afghanistan and he delivered his story fine.

[Vinayak Hegde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author travels to Afghanistan and the book is a chronicle of his stay there. The story is not very insightful about Afghanistan but revolves round him and his interaction with the people in his office.

The author is writing a book using comics and icons to explain the new constitution of Afghanistan to its people. The only redeeming factor about this book was the pages from the comic book at the end. Otherwise could be a simple page in a life of a graphic artist. It gets 3 stars just because of that (the context and the pictures at the end. A much better book is the mixed media book - "The Photographer"

[Ekim]

Hoş... Ama çokça cinsiyetçi küfür var yine. Mizahın küfür ve aşağılamayla işlemek zorunda olmadığını ne zaman kavrayacağız bilemiyorum. Biraz aceleye gelmiş gibi Kabil Disko, hızlı hızlı yazılıp çizilip, diğer cilde önayak olmaktan çok öteye gidememiş gibi. Kolaya kaçmadan bu güzel sinopsisi daha keyifli bir hale getirebilirdi Nicolas Wild. Yine de okumaya değer.

[Shambhavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to learn anything about Afghanistan from this, but I had a LOT of chuckles and there's a dry humour I really appreciate. Overall a fun read, featuring some scathing criticism of the Bush administration. We love to see it.

[Mamdid · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 mondo disco

[Laura Zurowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The English language edition of Kabul Disco isn't the easiest to find if you're trying to avoid Amazon (thanks to the fact that it was published by Harper Collins in India and wasn't widely distributed through the US...good luck finding it in a public library...) but it is so worth the effort of tracking down!

With dark, sarcastic, and self-deprecating humor, Kabul Disco tells the story of Nicolas, a down-on-his-luck French illustrator and comic book artist who, out of desperation, takes a job with an quasi-NGO in Kabul, Afghanistan in the early 2000s. The cast of characters include opportunists, misanthropes, do-gooders, and a random Republican from Florida.

Fortunately, Nicolas is a good-hearted soul, who despite bumbling about in his new cultural environment, doesn't take himself too seriously even as he tries to fit in with his bosses, colleagues, house-mates, and the people of Kabul. But don't assume this story is just a comedy of errors; it also provides some solid background historical details about a country the western world has minimal exposure to outside of the major news outlets - you're guaranteed to learn something even as you're laughing.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicolas Wild is no Guy Delisle, let's put it that way. You've got the whole "cartoonist goes to an exotic foreign country, has some interesting experiences" angle, but Wild seems more focused on partying with his comrades than learning about Afghanistan's people or culture. The narrative itself is unfocused, jumping around between episodes over an uncertain period of time. Wild seems to thrive on jokey scenarios - about half the stories have punchlines, which struck me as odd.

I found myself enjoying most of Kabul Disco because Wild is a likeable enough narrator and his companions were interesting, even if they were expats and not natives. I would have liked more Afghanistan in a book about Afghanistan, though.

[Kalika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining account of the French illustrator's life in the Afghanistan of NGOs, coalition forces, nascent democracy and the not-so-diminished Taliban. At times hilariously ridiculous, and at others poignant in its observation of the prevalent times, the book brings to life the contrasting mindsets of the two cultures.
I have the English version and am looking for the second volume in English too.

[HadiDee]

Started well but, despite having been a development worker myself, I found the entire focus on the NGO workers a bit much. Would have been nice to have a few Afghans who weren't merely supporting characters

[Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man accepts a job in Kabul as an illustrator. His first project is to draw comics that explain the new constitution. The second project is to create recruitment material for the new (American- and Western-trained) army. He's often clueless, careless, immature. He's young and inexperienced in life, so most of this is understandable. He usually learns the hard way (by putting his foot in his mouth) with his bosses, co-workers, and locals. The rest of the expat community is divided into two groups: people who are very aware of their privilidge and have many ethical/moral principles, and people who are living the expat life without much care for what's going on. Our hero is usually in the latter camp, though he has one very big moral crisis when he's told he's supposed to work on the army recruitment project (he tries to resign, but his resignation is rejected). No matter what, though, everyone's presented as caricatures or archetypes, which seems to be on purpose. So the story has an undercurrent of cynical humor.

It's hard not to compare this work with Guy Delisle's work. Delisle's older. He's already a father, for example, in Burma Chronicles. His humor is more focused on the actual political situation going on where he is and his interactions with the locals, while Wild's story mostly concerns his work life (kind of like The Office in Kabul!) Kabul Disco is one young man's adventure in Kabul, but also reads like a cautionary tale of what those Westerners are up to in places like Afghanistan.

Recommended for those who like expat restaurants, caviar, grumpy coworkers, and language lessons.

[KhepiAri · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Afghanistan, when someone invites you to have a cup of tea, you should answer 'no thank you, I've just had one, stay alive!.'
If the Afghan really wants you to have a cup of tea with him he will repeat his invitation four times. Only then are you allowed to say 'oh yes please, i'd love to, I'm actually quite thirsty...'
I knew nothing about this, so must have drunk hundreds of gallons of impolite tea because I was unaware of Afghan customs.
___
Comparing the style of this book with Joe Sacco would be tease to him, but it definitely walks on the path Sacco has created. The book rather has similar narrative and art style with Sacco. Yet retains its own distinct voice of a broke French artist who calls himself and fellow artist in Kabul Momos~ Moneyless Morons!

Wild has drawn comics in Kabul to explain the constitution to the children. His this experience has also given him a sarcastic and apathetic tone in book. The Panel showing his lost speech bubble in Herat was beautiful. The small dream sequence in between that pops up to strike his apathetic voice is hilarious.

Now have to grab part II and learn how he escaped being an Opium Addict.

[Raghuveer Parthasarathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of many memoirs about which I wonder: what was the point? With graphic novels there are two aspects to the question: what is about your experiences that are interesting *to others* and what do we gain by having this *illustrated*? Here, the answers are “not much” and “nothing.” The book isn’t bad, but it is dull. The author ends up in Afghanistan, working as an illustrator for materials on the new Afghan constitution. This could have been fascinating – in fact, the best part of the book is the extra material at the end that shows some of this educational material, the design of which great to learn about. However, most of the book is about the author’s boring experiences with boring expats in a boring office in Kabul. There are occasional moments of excitement, e.g. when a worker in their area is kidnapped, but these are rare and we don’t gain any real insight into their effects on anyone’s state of mind. The artwork is fine, but doesn’t add anything. Not terrible, but not worth going out of one’s way to read.

[Nikhil Kamath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to know about Kabul Disco back in 2016, but for some reason I was never able to find a copy of it online or at bookstores.

A few weeks ago, I found a copy on the shelf of a bookstore and without second thoughts picked it up. Kabul Disco by Nicolas Wild falls in the category of travelogue style of graphic novels like the ones by Guy Delisle and Joe Sacco. This one highlights the days spent by the writer/illustrator in Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan.

Being a travel enthusiast myself, I found this book very interesting to read. It takes you through the experiences of being an expat in the capital city and how the socio-political scenario there was in 2005.

It's a great read for those interested in learning about other countries and cultures.

[Eren Keşküş · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok keyifli bir okuma. Bu çizgi roman bir yerde ve bir dönemde yazarın edindiği izlenim ve yaşadıklarını anlatıyor. Bir çizer, Fransız vatandaşı ve expat olarak küçük bir çevrede izole yaşantısı ve kişisel deneyiminden bahsediyor. Konjuktürü hikayelere hizmet edecek kadar tanımlıyor; ki oldukça açık ve detay barındırıyor bu tanımlar. Keza mekan çizimleri anlatıyı destekliyor.
Bu eser ansiklopedik bilgi ya da yakın tarih bilgisi arayanlar için değildir. Öyle bir iddiası da yoktur. Yine batı ülkerinin doğu politikaları hakkında detaylı bilgi edinmek için değildir.

[Sharmeen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grabbed a graphic novel surprise bag from the library and this was in it. Appropriate to read with last weeks announcement of the US pulling out of Afghanistan. The guy is a very talented illustrator, but this book just instilled the cynicism of “expats” all engaging in the imperialism of Afghanistan - even jobs that prop up the US army. He makes no real relationships or connections to the hardship there - and rather complains about his hard, privileged life while partying and eating in fancy restaurants. I learned a few words in Dari though so I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

[Flopperstein (Shajeela) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This trope of white men going off to far away lands/conflict zones and then telling us what its like to live in the expat bubble is just what sells (as we have seen). Anyway, the book was witty, Wild is quite funny at times and am glad he was able to share some critical opinions on the geopolitics that continues to lead Afghanistan to be where it is. His personal pictures towards the end left a bad taste in my mouth. Someone else wrote in his review that this is akin to "This one time I took a weird trip somewhere" and that's really what this was.

[Sneha Jaiswal · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jaita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kabul Disco is a fascinating read. Full of interesting insights , dark humour and a travelogue of his time as a French Illustrator in Afghanistan , it's hard not to love Nicolas Wild's book. I enjoyed every bit and now plunging into the next two . the illustrations made me re read just to go through them again... completely recommended

[Romany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This resonated, maybe because I’ve been part of that ex-pat life of NGOs and “development”. Sometimes, I laughed at the jokes. Sometimes I felt bad about the jokes. There’s this sense, in the book, of the artist not really seeing the people of Kabul as individuals. But perhaps this is ameliorated by the fact that all the characters are caricatures? Not just the locals? Maybe not.

[Ashish Kaul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cartoonists 3-part graphic novel based on his life in Kabul.
It paints a socio-political picture of Kabul during the period of war in Afghanistan. Wild makes the war in Afghanistan amusing while doing justice to the depiction of hardships and atrocities during the period. A must read for a satirical and slapstic interpretation of the war.