A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

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A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is a nonfiction webcomic by cartoonist Josh Neufeld. It tells the real stories of a handful of real-life New Orleans residents and their experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina. A.D. is being serialized on SMITH Magazine, a web magazine about storytelling in all its forms.

The webcomic has received recognition from magazines, newspapers, and websites such as the Los Angeles Times[1], the New Orleans Times-Picayune[2], the Atlanta Journal-Constitution[3], Rolling Stone, Wired.com[4], BoingBoing[5], the Toronto Star[6], and National Public Radio's "News & Notes". USA Today’s "Pop Candy" named A.D. one of 2007’s best comics, Wired.com called it “a sterling example of comics with a social conscience," and the New Orleans Gambit Weekly said "it took Josh Neufeld only 13 panels to storyboard New Orleans’ worst nightmare."[7]

Neufeld draws upon interviews with the actual people represented in the story; newspaper, magazine, and blog accounts of the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and its effects on New Orleans; and his own experiences as a Red Cross volunteer in the weeks after the storm. A.D. also utilizes the Internet in a variety of interesting ways to expand the scope of the story beyond the comic itself. Many pages and panels have links to outside sources such as audio and video clips, newspapers stories, photo essays, and the like. And the A.D. website also features audio & video clips from the characters, a blogroll, a resource library, and an active blog (in addition to a comments section for each chapter.)

In May 2008, it was announced that a four-color hardcover edition of A.D. would be published in book form by Pantheon Graphic Novels. The book will include additional and augmented material from the webcomic version. [8]

Contents

[edit] The characters

  • Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian poet, singer, and kickboxer with a master’s degree in guidance and counseling. After surviving the brunt of the hurricane in her apartment, Denise reunites with her family, but ends up trapped for two days in the chaos and violence of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
  • The Doctor, a medical man-about-town based in the French Quarter and often found at the legendary Galatoire's. Although personally unaffected by Katrina, The Doctor stays behind after the storm, setting up a street clinic to help tend to relief workers and refugees.
  • Hamid, Iranian-born, long-time New Orleanian, father of two, and owner of a family-run supermarket in Uptown who faces the storm with his friend Mansell. Hamid and Mansell weather the storm in Hamid's convenience store. But when the power goes out and the water starts to rise, the two men realize they are in over their heads — literally.
  • Kevin, son of a pastor from New Orleans East, who is just entering his senior year of high school as Katrina strikes. Fleeing to Tallahassee with his family the day before the storm, Kevin is shocked by the devastation left behind. His parents send him to live with a family friend in Berkeley, California, to finish high school. Like thousands of other Katrina refugees, Kevin faces the future in alien surroundings.
  • Leo and Michelle, twenty-somethings who each grew up in the city. He’s a local music zine publisher and works with mentally challenged youth. She’s a waitress and gymnastics instructor. After evacuating to Houston, they learn that their apartment took at least five feet of water. Leo’s entire 15,000-strong comic book collection is ruined, and the couple face many hard choices about returning and rebuilding.

[edit] Storyline

The online version of the story currently spans 11 chapters, as well as a two-part prologue.

[edit] Prologue, Part 1: "In the Beginning"

August 2005. From a "God's eye" perspective, A.D. shows Hurricane Katrina as it builds from a tropical storm in the Bahamas and moves inexorably toward New Orleans.

[edit] Prologue, Part 2: "The Storm"

Katrina slams into the Gulf Coast. Winds and rain lash New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi. The levees burst and the city is flooded.

[edit] Chapter 1: "Riders of the Storm"

Going back in time to more than a week before the storm, readers meet the protagonists in their pre-Katrina lives. Then in the days leading up to the hurricane, our characters learn about the approaching monster storm.

[edit] Chapter 2: "Should I Stay..."

It is the Saturday before the hurricane. Leo tracks the storm on his computer as he and Michelle decide whether to evacuate. Meanwhile, The Doctor makes plans to host some friends at his French Quarter home for a “hurricane party.”

[edit] Chapter 3: "...Or Should I Go"

It is Sunday, August 28, 2005, one day before Katrina. Hamid sends his wife and family off to safety in Houston. Kevin helps his family prepare to evacuate to Tallahassee. Denise goes with her niece and grand-niece to take shelter at the hospital where her mother works, but when they are turned away from a private room due to overcrowding, she angrily returns to her apartment alone.

[edit] Chapter 4: "Zero Hour"

Leo and Michelle spend hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic to Houston, while Kevin and his family do the same en route to Tallahassee. Meanwhile, Hamid and Mansell excitedly outfit themselves for the storm at Hamid’s store.

[edit] Chapter 5: "Katrina Comes Calling"

Monday, August 29. As the storm’s pre-winds batter New Orleans, The Doctor’s hurricane party is in full swing. Hamid and Mansell hunker down at the store.

[edit] Chapter 6: "Flotsam and Jetsam"

When the full force of the hurricane hits, Denise learns just what a mistake it was to forsake the refuge of the hospital for her apartment. Her apartment is shaken repeatedly by the storm, the ceiling in the bedroom comes down, and she spends the night holding onto a bed wedged in the hallway. We also check in on Kevin and his family in Tallahassee, and Leo and Michelle in Houston. No one is yet aware that the levees have been breached.

[edit] Chapter 7: "The Bowl Effect, Part 1"

Tuesday, August 30. Katrina has finally passed New Orleans, and Hamid and Mansell emerge, blinking in the sunlight, ecstatic to have survived the storm. But then the flooding begins. Reluctant to abandon the store and fearful of looters, the two men stand fast in the rising waters.

[edit] Chapter 8: "The Bowl Effect, Part 2"

Wednesday, August 31. Hamid and Mansell wake up from a long night on the roof of Hamid's maintenance shed. They spend the day wading through the chest-high waters, refusing a boat ride out of the flooded sections of the city.

[edit] Chapter 9: "Neutral Ground"

Denise and her family, having momentarily escaped the flooding, await transport out of the flooded city. What they find instead is a van to the Convention Center. In Houston, Leo and Michelle are dismayed to discover that their neighborhood took over five feet of water.

[edit] Chapter 10: "Something in the Water"

The Doctor makes the rounds of the French Quarter, administering aid where needed. Hamid and Mansell deliver much-needed water to a trapped neighbor. And in Tallahassee, Kevin sees footage of the flooding and realizes he won’t be returning home any time soon. Denise arrive at the Convention Center to find it completely without vital services, and filled with abandoned people.

[edit] Chapter 11: "Diaspora"

Mansell narrowly avoids being crushed by a bobbing refrigerator case. Mansell's asthma and the high water makes Hamid face the fact that they probably should evacuate the flooded city. In Houston, Leo & Michelle discuss what their next move should be. And in Tallahassee, Kevin learns that he and his younger brother will be sent off to California to attend school there.

[edit] Chapter 12: "Section H"

It is Thursday, September 1st, three days after the hurricane and two days after the city began flooding. Denise and her family, having been dropped off at the New Orleans Convention Center, find themselves stranded and abandoned, surrounded by thousands of other refugees. And from there things only get worse.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boucher, Geoff. "A flood of emotions in a Katrina comics serial." Los Angeles Times, August 27, 2007.
  2. ^ MacCash, Doug. "Comic-book Katrina." New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 27, 2007.
  3. ^ Rajagopalan, Megha. "Words and Pictures: Online strips will make you think." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 25, 2007.
  4. ^ Jatras, Todd. "Following New Orleans After the Deluge." Wired.com, May 1, 2007.
  5. ^ Frauenfelder, Mark. "Webcomic about Hurricane Katrina." BoingBoing, June 7, 2007.
  6. ^ Mudhar, Raju. "Katrina captured on the computer screen." Toronto Star, August 19, 2007.
  7. ^ Pais, Noah Bonaparte, "Art Begetting Art," Gambit Weekly, Feb. 19, 2008.
  8. ^ "Pantheon to Publish A.D.:New Orleans After the Deluge: Josh Neufeld's Real-Life Saga," ICv2, May 8, 2008. Retrieved on June 4, 2008.