PRIDE OF BAGHDAD 485
has known nothing but captivity. At the onset of the story, Noor is attempting to forge
a peace and overthrow the zoo’s human regime to gain freedom for all of its animals,
but her potential allies hold no faith in the lions and their carnivorous predisposition.
While Ali begs for more stories about life in the wild, Safa refl ects on the violence,
subjugation, and even rape she experienced in the wild from Zill and his kin. After an
explosion that destroys their cage and sets free the pride, all but Safa move forward with
many of the other animals as they stampede away from the fi re and destruction. Along
the way, Ali is kidnapped by a fanatical group of apes who wish to physically mark Ali
so that he is part of their group. Th e cub is rescued by Safa, and the pride regroups
and exits the zoo. Th eir progression leads them to encounter an aged turtle who warns
them of the havoc and destruction experienced by him and his family in the last war
(the fi rst Gulf War). After averting a collision with U.S. tanks, the lions fi nd themselves
wandering the streets of a desolate and dead Baghdad, fi lled with human corpses. Th ey
follow a pack of horses only to fi nd themselves entering the Republican Palace where
they encounter a beaten and dying lion, Rashid. Th e dying lion is not the only curious
creature held in captivity in Saddam’s palace. A bear, Fajer, attacks the pride and a fi erce
battle ensures. While they do win against the savage bear, Safa loses her other eye. At
the end of the day, the pride comes together on a rooftop to watch the setting sun—a
privilege denied them while in captivity. Just after sunset, the lions are shot down by
U.S. soldiers, who claim the animals were charging toward them.
Th e story itself runs parallel to the actual invasion of Baghdad and U.S. political
intentions of dismantling weapons of mass destruction and installing a democracy. In
interviews, Vaughan admits to no overall theory for his commentary but rather chal-
lenging the doctrine of preemptive strikes and interrogating the concepts of freedom
and liberty in a post-9/11 culture. Th ese concerns inform the text at diff erent moments.
Often skeptical and realistic about life before imprisonment, Safa’s statement, “Freedom
can’t be given, only earned” evokes the anxiety about the pride’s newly found freedom as
well as the U.S. goals and mission. Later, the pride will encounter an antelope that Noor
had been attempting to convince to join in the zoo rebellion. Isolated, the antelope is
easy prey; but Noor lets it go with the reminder, “Let them all know that the antelopes
could have been free ages ago if they had just been brave enough to trust me.” Th e
underlining commentary suggests that the diff erent political and religious groups in
Iraq might have earned their own freedom without the U.S. invasion. Meanwhile, Th e
pride of lions has not attained but has been (temporarily) handed freedom: a not-so-
proud moment. However, they are thrown into a world they do not fully comprehend;
and in the end they cannot truly attain their freedom, as it is robbed from them by
those who had initially, albeit unintentionally, liberated them—the U.S. Armed Forces.
Th e suggestion that the American invasion was anything but the liberating event it was
claimed to be is inescapable.
Unlike other successful ventures of Vaughan, Pride of Baghdad was planned and
executed as a graphic novel from the beginning. It was well-received upon its release,
winning accolades and awards, including the Best Original Graphic Novel of 2006 by
