E-Mail This Article to a Friend STRANGER THAN FICTION Graphic novel Johnny Jihad looks at the American Taliban BY MIKE MILIARD

It’s surprising how so many people were so incredulous that John Walker Lindh — an American! — could end up submerged in the murderous netherworld of Al Qaeda terrorists. Take a kid from an unstable home, with an unfulfilling school and social life and meager ambitions. Then dangle the possibility of membership in a welcoming organization that’s proud, that’s disciplined, that stands for something. It’s hard to believe there weren’t more like him. Rebellion coupled with acceptance, a purpose, a sense of identity — those are the reasons, horribly misguided though they may be, that an alienated kid might join a street gang. Phoenix illustrator Ryan Inzana recognizes the parallel. In his new graphic novel Johnny Jihad (NBM/ComicsLit), he uses the beautifully robust chiaroscuro of meticulously worked white scratchboard to limn the life of John Sendel, a Lindh-like kid from a broken home whose charismatic supermarket co-worker inducts him into a shadowy band of Islamic extremists. At first, guns and bombs inject a thrilling element into a life going nowhere. But before long, events unravel uncontrollably, and John finds himself in Afghanistan, a pawn of both the terrorists and the CIA. Then comes 9/11. We called Inzana at home in Brooklyn to talk about his art.

Q: What drew you to the John Walker Lindh story?

A: A lot of my work centers around the disenfranchised people in society. When I saw this person who grew up in an affluent community and for one reason or another decided he wanted to fight against his country, I saw a connection between [that and] things like the Columbine incident. Even just this morning, you open the New York Times and read about those three kids [planning a massacre] who are a stone’s throw away from Trenton, New Jersey, where John Sendel in the book supposedly comes from. It really interests me, that mode of thinking. What’s in their mind?

Q: Obviously you’ve never taken up arms against your country, but are there any autobiographical aspects to this story?

A: [Laughs] Well, sometimes it’s crossed my mind! But, yeah, I grew up in Trenton, I worked in a supermarket. There are many similarities that I drew on. I’ve gone through some pretty crazy experiences. For a while I was living in Bed-Stuy, and, through a very complicated scenario, I was living with an arms dealer who had just gotten out of jail, and there were SWAT team raids going on at my place, and there were Bloods downstairs dealing phencyclidine.... It was just a really crazy point. Sometimes you’ll sort of fall into a certain way, and then everything starts unraveling. Once you open the floodgate, everything just kinda tumbles down. So I can completely see how someone like John Walker Lindh, or the fictional character John Sendel, could just stumble upon these things, and once you enter into them, you become enmeshed.

Q: How did you do your research?

A: Lot of books and newspapers and looking back at old articles. Some of it I did from more-firsthand accounts. I knew relatively little about the Islamic world, so I had to go out and ask some people who were Muslim about their religion. Also, another comic artist, Ted Rall, who was commissioned by the Village Voice to go to Afghanistan when the bombs were dropping, was instrumental to a lot of my research [Rall’s book To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue was published by ComicsLit in 2002]. We had a couple sit-downs, and he would fill me in with information that I needed. He was really an invaluable source, and had a great perspective on it. He was just sucked into that world, too.

Q: Other political-themed graphic novels, like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde, have found wide audiences. What does the graphic novel offer that other media don’t?

A: A lot of people don’t want to read political books. They get thrown off by these thick volumes, this wordy, historical material. When you mix a story that has pictures, it makes it almost like a movie. I think that’s why it’s gaining more acceptance. Certainly, you can read a graphic novel in a couple hours, whereas reading a historical book takes some time. A lot of people think visually, and if they can make those connections in their mind while they’re reading, it will help keep their attention. I think that people are starting to wake up and see that comic books are no longer just about superheroes. They also deal with real, serious subject matters — and should receive the same literary respect that a novel would. Which is what, I think, is beginning to happen. I just hope it keeps going.