''Cairo'' is the first
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
of
G. Willow Wilson
Gwendolyn Willow Wilson (born August 31, 1982) is an American comics writer, prose author, and essayist. Her best-known prose works include the novels ''Alif the Unseen'' and '' The Bird King''. She is most well known for relaunching the '' Ms. Ma ...
with art by
M.K. Perker, and published by the
Vertigo imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
of
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
.
Synopsis
The story is set in contemporary
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, and follows six characters as they are drawn into the intrigue surrounding a stolen
hookah
A hookah (Hindustani language, Hindustani: (Nastaleeq), (Devanagari), IPA: ; also see #Names and etymology, other names), shisha, or waterpipe is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking either tobacco ...
, a box containing East and the Under-Nile of legend.
Characters
*Ashraf - A hash smuggler.
*Tova - An Israeli Army special forces soldier assigned to the border for her refusal to serve in the occupied territories.
*Shaheed - A Lebanese-American would-be terrorist.
*Shams - A centuries-old
djinn
Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources)
– are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
, protector of a box containing East.
*Jibreel - A dissident journalist often censored by the government.
*Kate - A somewhat naive American tourist and aspiring journalist.
*Nar - Crime lord and magician.
*Iblis - The Devil.
*Ta'abatta Sharran - A spirit inhabiting the city's ruins, appears as a bearded man wrapped in two great snakes. Based on the similarly named Meccan poet.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Cairo on dccomics.com
2007 books
2007 comics debuts
2007 graphic novels
Comics set in Egypt
Action-adventure comics
Fantasy comics
Vertigo Comics graphic novels