A little over a year ago, Mahsa Amini died after a brutal beating and torture by the morality police for not wearing the Islamic veil properly. Less than a month ago, Armita Geravand died under similar circumstances. In the wake of these deaths, a spontaneous, global outcry by Iranian women, supported by many men, rose up. The government’s harsh crackdown followed, with detentions, torture, rapes, killings, and executions of protesters. The veil uprising carried the rallying cry Women’s Freedom to Live, and it inspired collective comics coordinated by the filmmaker Marjane Satrapi. Her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, published twenty years earlier, serves as a reference point for the discussion of Iran after the revolution.
In addition to Satrapi, the book features 17 writers, including French artists Joann Sfar, Coco, Pascal Rabaté, and Lewis Trondheim, as well as Iranian Mana Neyestani and two Spanish creators, Paco Roca and Patricia Bolaños. They discuss via videoconference how their participation felt, and the book arrived in bookstores through Reservoir Books and Finestres in Catalan this week. France has already sold 45,000 copies.
What are the forces at play in Iran and how does censorship operate? The dangers of demonstrating against the regime, the executions, and the experience of arrests in the sinister Evin prison are among the topics this comic raises. It also depicts scenes of humiliation, rape, and torture used to extract false confessions.
Following works such as Arrugas, Regreso al Edén, La casa, and The randomness of Los, Roca is adept at using composite fiction to heighten emotion and draw readers into the story. The book also touches on the case of Moshen, one of those executed for protesting. It notes that in Iran martyrs were often volunteers who believed they died for the country, yet Amini and Moshen became martyrs for the planet, since many would rather enjoy time with friends than become martyrs.
Roca also created another comic titled Mujer Vida Libertad. Revolt in the 20. It portrays women who faced barriers entering universities and highlights discrimination that separated boys from girls, restricted meals in student cafeterias, and forced group outings in university spaces. These small victories are meaningful and sometimes spark larger tensions. The Valencian artist is preparing a new article and a fresh comic called The abyss of oblivion, which will explore the fate of those executed by the Franco regime in Astiberri.
In Bolaños’s caricature, Spared Children of the regime, she discusses the hypocrisy seen in Iranian society, embodied by Aga Zadeh, and the phrase Children of Iranian oligarchs. Those with wealth use money to break Islamic laws, boast about it on social networks, and yet many young women are killed over veiling. The Brooklyn-based illustrator asks what happens when rich girls witness such violence and feminist protests unfold.
Beyond explaining the veil movement to Western audiences, a Persian version of the comic is freely accessible online to reach Iranians. Roca states his aim as raising awareness and sending a message to Iranians that many outsiders support their fight for freedom. The illustrator agrees that Iranians lack a voice; if they show resistance, many face retaliation. Information is often suppressed through censorship, making it crucial to shed light on the situation and tell these stories so that Iran’s realities are not eclipsed by other global conflicts such as Ukraine or Gaza. The dialogue remains urgent because, a year after Amini’s death, recent developments have not faded from public attention, including the imprisonment of journalists and activists who exposed Amini’s case.
To achieve this, 17 writers served as screenwriters, with three Iranians providing expertise — political scientist Farid Vahid and historian and former political prisoner Abbas Milani — along with French journalist Jean-Pierre Perrin, a longtime Libération correspondent. They stated that the information and documents given were comprehensive. Through the graphic language and varied voices, the message resonates in a different way and invites deeper reflection, Bolaños notes. Roca adds that a book can influence change, saying social shifts often start from the ground up.