If you care about comics, care about this.
Samandal is a comics magazine based in Beirut, Lebanon, but they publish artists from all over the world. The first comic I ever had published by somebody that wasn’t myself appeared in Samandal #1 back in 2007. They’ve published 15 issues in three different languages, hosted international cartoonists, set up comics events in Beirut and acted as the anchor of a wonderful and thriving comics community in the Middle East. I was a guest editor on issue 11 in 2011 when I lived in Beirut. That experience inspired the founding of my own comics anthology, Irene. Samandal’s editors are amazing people and artists. I’m lucky to call them my friends.
Samandal is in big, big trouble. Three of their editors lost a legal case brought by the Lebanese government that interpreted two out of context panels to be “inciting sectarian strife.” It’s utter bullshit. For a detailed story about the case, there’s a good New Yorker article that covers it.
The editors now face tens of thousands of dollars in fines for completely spurious charges. They’re raising money to try to stay in business. If they don’t raise enough, not only will the magazine be shuttered, but the editors could face jail time for nonpayment of their crippling fines.
Samandal matters. The Institute for Current World Affairs said:
In the Middle East, Beirut is the vanguard of Arab comix. Samandal’s sixteen issues since 2007 have pushed artists in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia to follow suit. As Samandal’s coterie of artists experiment in Arabic, French, and English, the ‘zine has carved out space for scores of Lebanese graphic novels and other interventions across the region.
The Hooded Utilitarian called Samandal “ground zero for Arab comics.” I love this art form, and wherever there is a group of people in this world making comics together, there is a light. Please, please consider donating to their fundraising campaign, even if this is the first time you’ve heard of Samandal. Don’t let this light go out.
