PERSEPOLIS: THE STORY OF A CHILDHOOD
PANTHEON
CARTOONIST: Marjane Satrapi
TRANSLATION: Mattias Ripa and Blake Ferris
LETTERS: Eve Deluze
COVER: Marjane Satrapi with Jean-Christopher Menu
ISBN: 978-0-375-71457-3; paperback (June 2004)
164pp, B&W, $13.95, $17.95 CAN
Marjane Satrapi was an Iranian and French comics creator, graphic novelist, film director, and children's book author. She died recently (June 2026) at the age of 56. Her best-known work was the Persepolis, a series of graphic novels about her childhood and early adulthood in Iran and Austria during and after the “Islamic Revolution” (also known as the “Iranian Revolution”).
Satrapi would later co-direct (with Vincent Paronnaud) the animated feature film, Persepolis, an adaptation of the graphic novels. The film was released in 2007. Satrapi became the first woman to be nominated for a “Best Animated Feature” Oscar, when the film was nominated for the 80th Academy Awards.
French comics publisher, L'Assocation, published Persepolis as four graphic novels. In 2004, Pantheon Books published the four graphic novels as two English-language graphic novels: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.
In 2006, Pantheon sent me a review copy of the 2004 reprint edition of the first volume. I am re-posting the review of the book that I originally wrote for another website:
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Although its American edition is two years old, Persepolis is worthy of continuous discussion. Cartoonist Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her childhood, growing up in late 70’s and early 80’s Iran, under the oppressive regime of the Shah (Part 1), and, then, the perilous existence during years of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran/Iraq War (Part 2).
For the U.S. edition, Pantheon combined Parts 1 and 2 into Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (The American edition Persepolis 2 combines Parts 3 and 4). L’Association, the French publishing house, originally published Persepolis in French, and Satrapi’s husband, Mattias Ripa, translated Part 1 into English with Blake Ferris translating Part 2.
Satrapi’s narrative is a mixture of several ingredients that enrich her story. She blends the history of Iran (Persepolis was an ancient ceremonial capitol of Persia, now known as Iran) with her family’s history. She places her ambitions next to those of her parents, and her view of religion and faith often clashes with theirs.
Parts of her story are a document of the world in which she lives, and much of the story is also internal and separate from an outside reality. Satrapi makes Iran’s recent history engaging by putting human faces on it, and makes her fictional self more interesting and a fuller character by putting herself in the context of larger events.
Satrapi draws in a simple, flexible, pliable line, and uses blocks of black to create simple forms and recognizable shapes. This makes for an uncomplicated, but universal comics language. Comparable to Maus, Persepolis is an excellent comic book that reveals the diversity and breath of comics storytelling. If only the real powers-in-charge of big American comics publishing attempted works like Persepolis.
A+
10 out of 10
EDITED with additions to the 2006 original review: Sunday, June 7, 2026
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can read the complete "Persepolis" in "THE COMPLETE PERSEPOIS: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, which is available at Amazon.
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