It's a struggle describing the essence of a graphic novel in words, particularly one as abstract as Gipi's Notes for a War Story. It's a book about war, but not in the way you would expect-- only the occasional discussion of militias and bombings. Rather, this book's backdrop is protracted violence and civil unrest, with a focus on characters who profit from them.
The power of Notes for a War Story comes not from its protagonists (a group of archetypal outsiders who are supposed to be friends but show no signs of bonds between them) or its unique perspective ("war is ugly"), but from its haunting images. Rendered in monochromatic oils with a few penned-in details, there are ruined hotels with glassless windows, expanses of wasteland where villages used to be, and alley nightclubs with only a handful of patrons, all reminiscent of post-apocalyptic futurescapes. The headless figures that haunt the main character's dreams are equally chilling. The war itself is abstract-- a civil conflict in an unnamed European country, though the images and the artist's close proximity to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia suggest something more specific.
Fans of graphic novels might consider this for its visual merits, but the plot points are too diluted to stand on their own.
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