The Honduran Coup: A Graphic History (32p comic)

On June 28th, the day Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had proposedto hold a non-binding public poll on a popular assembly, he wasarrested at home in the middle of the night by the armed forces andforcibly exiled to Costa Rica. Why? For his supposed intention ofsubverting the Honduran constitution to extend his time in office.
Fourmonths later, the situation shows no sign of improving. Zelaya has beensuccessfully smuggled back into the country, but is under effectivehouse arrest in the Brazlian embassy, which is surrounded by coupleader Roberto Micheletti's troops. After a considerable delay, the USfinally intervened to broker a deal on Oct 30, which has since beenrejected outright by Zelaya and decried by the International community.Despite its previous solidarity with the deposed President, the US hasnow agreed to recognize the new elections that are scheduled for Nov29, with or without Zelaya's reinstitution.
Whatcaused the delay in US intervention and subsequent volte-face? Why isthe mainstream media labelling Zelaya a Chavez-styled caudillo? What isthe situation on the ground, and why have the growing popular movementsor accounts of human rights abuses since June received little or nocoverage?

We collaborated on the first part of the story, "A Graphic History of the Honduran Coup" which you can read here at Alternet.org.
Click here to read and share the story through the Archcomix website.


We were delighted by the widespread coverage the piece generated, including the following articles published at Boingboing.net, The Guardian UK, Brazil's Operamundi.net, Presente.org,Rebelion.org, The Daily Kos and Pulsemedia.net. It was read by over15,000 people, translated into spanish and reported around the world.

What comics journalism offers above regular journalism is the ability to present a dense amount of information about a complex topic in a concise, accessible form. By condensing down a polemical subject into just several pages, readers have the chance to familiarise themselves with a news story that they might otherwise have overlooked or ignored. Beyond that, by visually depicting the characters involved and their actions a comics artist can viscerally recreate the feeling of a world, delivering an emotional impact and targeting potential readerly apathy in this desensitized age.

We will continue to detail events as they unfold in comics form, usingcontacts we have made with journalists on the ground in Tegucigalpa.They will provide first hand testimony and visual references for thestory, as well as leads we can follow up with and interview over thephone or via email. New pages will be posted online for immediatedigital distribution to reduce the lag time as much as possible.

Inaddition to the digital format, half of the budget will be spent onproducing 500 hard copies of a 32-page full-colour comic, which willnot only feature full coverage of the story, but also crucialbackground information about US multinational/military involvement inthe region (such as the role and history of the School of theAmericas).

Donors will be mentioned in the back of the comic andreceive a complimentary copy - the rest will be distributed to NGOs,schools, libraries and activist networks.

Dan Archer has an MFA in cartooning and currently teaches graphic novelwriting at Stanford University's English Department. Click here to view his work.
Nikil Saval is an Editor at N+1 magazine and current phd student at Stanford. Both arefluent in spanish.