Word: boudiaf
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...tells the story of a Saïd Boudiaf, a gifted Algerian boxer whose career peaks during the late 1950s in Paris. Still a colony of France at the time, Algeria's National Liberation Front (FLN) had begun a series of bombings to oust the occupiers. Upon arriving at the Paris train station Boudiaf gets immediately harassed by gendarmes who suspect any Arab of being a terrorist. Desperately trying to stay neutral in an atmosphere that insists on polarization, he declares, "I'm on the side of boxing." But when he defeats the French champion the stadium erupts...
...happens way too fast, with little subtlety or character development. Boudiaf's neutrality has no grounding and seems unlikely. The story gets so busy that the title, for example, remains a mystery. Boudiaf arrives in America for a page and a half and immediately returns to Paris having done little more than pose for pictures. Then just as suddenly, the books ends with a big, unsatisfying question mark. Even the boxing matches are reduced to little more than didactic description accompanied by snapshot-like panels. Unlike last year's masterful "Golem's Mighty Swing," (see the TIME.comix review), about...