Zahra's Paradise
The cover to First Second's hardcover edition of Zahra's Paradise
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| Author | Amir Soltani |
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| Illustrator | Khalil |
| Cover artist | Khalil |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, German, Finnish, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish, Persian, Arabic |
| Subject | 2009–10 Iranian election protests |
| Genre | Comics, Politics |
| Publisher | ZahrasParadise.com (webcomic) First Second Books (English) |
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Publication date
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2010–2011 (webcomic) 2011 (book) |
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Published in English
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2011 |
| Media type | Webcomic, hardcover, paperback |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 692291009 |
Zahra's Paradise is a webcomic and graphic novel by Amir Soltani and Khalil set in modern Iran. It has been described as a political webcomic dealing with real-time events. Its story follows a mother searching for her son, who disappeared around the time of the Iran's 2009 elections. Serialized online beginning in early 2010, Zahra's Paradise was published in hardcover format in 2011, and has received numerous positive reviews in mainstream press and blogs.
Zahra's Paradise was conceived by a Persian writer (Amir Soltani), an Arab artist ("Khalil"), and a Jewish editor, who chose anonymity for political reasons. Two of them are Iranian expatriates, and want to protect their families in Iran from repressions by the Iranian government. Writer Soltani describes himself as "a human rights activist, journalist and documentary filmmaker."
The first episode of the Zahra's Paradise webcomic was published on 19 February 2010. Thereafter, it was published three times a week in black-and-white strips. As episodes were being published, they were simultaneously translated into Persian, Arabic, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian. Ultimately, the webcomic was translated into 16 languages.
An English-language hardcover print edition was published by First Second Books on September 13, 2011. Foreign language editions have subsequently been published by Casterman (in French and Dutch), Rizzoli Lizard (in Italian), Norma Editorial (in Spanish), Knesebeck (in German), LIKE (in Finnish), Darun (in Korean), Leya (in Portuguese), Pegasus Yayinlari (in Turkish), vote4zahra.org (in Persian), and Dar Al-Tanweer (in Arabic).
The story takes place in the aftermath of the disputed Iran's 2009 elections. It recounts a search for Mehdi, a young activist who has vanished in their aftermath, likely abducted by the government's secret police. The search is carried out by his mother (the titular Zahra), his brother (a blogger), and their friends.
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Wikipedia