NO COUNTRY GN

Getting kids (and depressingly often their parents) to understand the plight of refugees can be difficult. Often the experiences of those fleeing from countries where there is no hope, and torture, death and the degradations of war can be very real and present threats, are things which younger readers have no real point of reference for. Joe Brady, deputy editor of the Phoenix Comic, and veteran comics creator Patrice Aggs solve that problem by taking us to a near-future country that looks all-too familiar, where a civil war rages under a totalitarian government. With food shortages, power cuts, bombings, and soldiers in the streets clashing with rebel fighters, the ordinary civilians are bearing the brunt of the conflict. In all this we meet a family: three kids and a father, who knows that things are only going to get worse, and who will do what it takes to get them all out of the country where they can join the mother, who has already managed to escape and prepare for their arrival, and find a better life elsewhere. It’s pretty tough stuff from the magazine that also brings you Bunny vs Monkey, but that’s part of the power of it. Who of a certain age can forget the impact of reading When the Wind Blows, from the guy who made Fungus the Bogeyman? A really important read that deserves to get under as many noses as possible.