Synopses & Reviews
It started with a visit from spirits. In 1991, Joseph Kony, the leader of a Ugandan rebel group known as the Lords Resistance Army, claimed that spiritual beings had come to him, instructing him to lead brutal raids against civilians supporting the Ugandan government. In the decades since, wars have been waged to supplant him, yet for all the horror and condemnation his brutality has aroused around the world, Joseph Kony still survives.
In Army of God, war correspondent David Axe collaborates with illustrator Tim Hamilton to create the first-ever graphic account of a conflict that has become a global phenomenon. The controversial Kony2012 campaign and documentaries have already spilled out of social media and into high school and college campuses, raising awareness among a broad audience. Army of God tells the rest of the story, from the chaos Kony has left behind to the long campaign to defeat him for good.
Review
Kirkus Reviews“The artistic rendering of rape and slaughter is as powerful as it is horrific, and the narrative hits hardest on an individual, human level in the chapter about a young girl, kidnapped by the LRA and forced into “marriage,” and the ongoing trauma after she was rescued at age 13.”
Synopsis
Joseph Kony is the most dangerous guerilla leader in modern African history.It started with a visit from spirits. In 1991, Kony claimed that spiritual beings had come to him with instructions: he was to lead his group of rebels, the Lords Resistance Army, in a series of brutal raids against ordinary Ugandan civilians. Decades later, Kony has sown chaos throughout Central Africa, kidnapping and terrorizing countless innocents—especially children. Yet despite an enormous global outcry, the Kony 2012 movement, and an international military intervention, the carnage has continued. Drawn from on-the-ground reporting by war correspondent David Axe and starkly illustrated by Tim Hamilton, Army of God is the first-ever graphic account of the global phenomenon surrounding Kony—from the devastation he has left behind to the long campaign to defeat him for good.
About the Author
David Axe is a freelance reporter based in Columbia, South Carolina. Since 2005 he has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Chad, Congo, and other conflict zones for
Wired, the BBC,
Salon,
Esquire, C-SPAN, Voice of America, and many others. David is the author of several graphic novels, including
War Fix,
War is Boring, and most recently,
The Accidental Candidate: The Rise and Fall of Alvin Greene.
Tim Hamilton is a Brooklyn artist who has produced illustrations for the New York Times, Cicada Magazine, DC comics, Marvel comics, Mad magazine, Nickelodeon magazine, and Lifetime. He adapted Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 into a graphic novel, which was nominated for an Eisner award.