Djeliya: A West African Fantasy Epic

I was really excited to check this book out, but unfortunately I had a major issue with this book which I talk about below.Firstly, the whole concept of this book just really appealed to me, from the art style to the story concept. The story mixes the influences of West-African folk tales and science fiction, which is something I have not seen before (most comics come from Western Countries and East Asian countries). In addition to the West African elements, I also noticed aspects of Islamic and Arabian culture in the story, which is not too surprising given that the writer/artist comes from Senegal, a country which is almost completely Muslim.There is a tonne of creativity on display here. The tale is a nested story (featuring stories within stories). Rather than just one major villain, there are two major villains, who are enemies to each other as much as they are enemies to our heroes. And the art incorporates a bunch of West-African visual symbols, which give an extra layer of meaning to the story (the glossary at the back is really handy for understanding these).By now, you can probably see that I wanted to give this comic a 5 star review... so what's the issue? The portrayal of (what appear to be) Christians and Jews. The two main villains - and the two most irredeemable characters in the book - just happen to wear talismans that look suspiciously similar to the symbols for Christianity (the Cross) and Judaism (Star of David) - see the product image that I've uploaded for example images. My first thought was "Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions - the Cross is slightly different from any I've seen before and the Star of David might actually be the Seal of Solomon... maybe?" So I checked the glossary of symbols to see if there was any possible alternative explanation. Nothing... And the character who wear the Star of David talisman - Saomaoro - if his talisman was the Seal of Solomon, rather than the Star of David, why does the character match so closely to typical antisemitic stereotypes - he is revealed to be a very short, bearded man with a long nose who pretends to be benevolent, but is actually a nasty impostor who uses this deception to rule the world by proxy... there's even a picture of him sitting on a huge pile of gold.It just seems way too coincidental for this to have been unintentional. Like, even if these were not intentional on the part of the creator (which seems highly unlikely), surely the book's editor should have picked up on this and seen it as problematic!? Or maybe I'm too optimistic, because it seems fairly common in modern media to portray Jews and Christians as evil. Anyway, you can decide for yourself. I'm really torn between this issue and the otherwise good work on display, so I wasn't really sure how many stars to give. 3 stars is possibly too generous, but either way, I won't be picking up any more books by this creator after this experience.

Loved every panel of this book. The best part was the glossary in the back to tie it all together. Loved it!

Really enjoyed Juni Ba’s illustrations.

Great story. Art style is amazing

Ok, let me just say that I am going to be including two opinions, both from myself and a coworker whom this seemed more geared towards. I’m going to start with my opinion first.I personally initially gave up once I reached the “interlude” where the illustrations become black and white. I kid you not it took me over a month to get not quite midway through this story. That’s because, I honestly could not follow what was happening. The story and illustrations are incredibly difficult for me to discipher. The words appear chaotic and the illustrations are mostly a lot of red and orange and brown and yellow with dark drawings on those colors, it’s difficult to see any real detail that allows me to understand what is supposed to be going on. The story didn’t grab me at all so I read a little bit here and there and then put it down then picked it up again a week later or at least days later. To me pretty much everything from the story to the illustrations prior to the interlude and before are all like one big kaleidoscope that may change shape a little but for the most part all blends together into bloody chaos.It was at that point when I reached the interlude that I decided I had read all I could and lent it to a coworker and I am so glad I did because he was able to see so much more than I could and in fact encouraged me to pick up the story after the interlude. I think my issue also was that I am very unfamiliar with the culture from which this comes from so language terms, names, sayings, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me.Now there is some helpful information located in the back of the book that would be beneficial to read first, if you can. After I lent this to my coworker, when he gave it back to me, he suggested I read the author’s notes and definitions in the back of the book before I continue the story. He also suggested I skip the black and white interlude section as it was difficult even for him to sink his teeth into and doesn’t really add enough to the story that I would be missing something if I skipped it. So I tried to read the author’s notes as he suggested but again, I just couldn’t get into it. I did, however, skip the interlude and pick the story back up with after the interlude and let me just say, the story does get considerably better after the interlude.Now my co worker’s opinion. Let me just say too that the reason I sought the opinion of my co worker is because he has a very inquisitive mind and has done some research on several religious cultures over the years, both Christian, Arabic, and various regions of African and even Asian cultures and others and I felt this was a book that deserved more than what I could provide in the way of my opinion of it’s content. My coworker had a lot to say about it, some negative but a lot of positive. He actually was familiar with some of the religious beliefs and languages that this story is built from so a lot of this made sense to him but he did say that it helps to have some knowledge before hand. He said he understood completely why I felt about it the way I did. It isn’t that the story is bad at all, it is just so heavily derived from source material that I know nothing about and if you do not have some grasp of that source material going into it, you will have a difficult time following what is going on. Also if you are more familiar with, Marvel or DC interns of the illustration style then you may also have difficulty reading the artwork of this story as it is completely different.I really think this isn’t for everyone. My co worker and I have two different minds. He’s someone who has read both the Bible and the Quran multiple times. For fun. He finds that kind of thing interesting. Me on the other hand? I tried to read the Bible. Once. Keyword, tried. My coworker read the included information and author’s notes in the back before beginning the story just so he could better grasp what he was about to read. Me? I tried to read the back and the author’s notes after I sludged through the first part of the story prior to the interlude but I found it read like a dictionary and text book and I want my reading to be fun and entertaining and less like work.With that said, I did read the rest of the story after skipping the interlude and I did much prefer the second half to the first and while I do not regret reading it, I know this is something I will never pick up and read again. Ever. It’s a subject matter that I’m not interested in. Now is that the fault of the author or the story? I would have to say, no. I think those that are interested in the subject matter and have knowledge of the culture this derives from will like this a lot. My co worker enjoyed it a great deal. What is a master piece for some may be a hot mess for others, not because what we are reading or seeing is truly terrible, we just can’t understand it while others absolutely can and can appreciate it the way it should be. I think this is one of those stories. Not everyone is going to get it but for those of you that do, you will enjoy this a great deal, providing you don’t mind a lot of violence.