Though I'm pretty much a homebody, having never been outside the United States (and I'm not going anywhere right now, I'd probably be strung up for the actions of my government), I have discovered something of a fondness for travelogue comics. Which is good, because it seems like it's a growing niche in the comics market, and Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco is another entry into this field. Smith's take on a journey through Morocco with his wife is a hit and miss affair for me, intriguing because of the way that Smith portrays the foreign culture but a little bit distancing for the same reason. Most travel stories tend to emphasize the alien nature of the place they're in while still relating it through a traveller's point of view, but Smith's story feels like it goes a bit native, leaving significant chunks of the whys and wherefores unexplained and throwing the events out for the reader to digest. The result is an undeniably compelling look at Morocco, but I found myself wishing for a little bit more of Smith's inner thoughts about the trip to give us context.
Baraka and Black Magic does succeed in giving the reader a sense of the chaotic "stranger in a strange land" feel that seems common to travelogue stories. Drugs are commonly available, everyone is trying to sell you something and the most basic creature comforts of home seem like unbelievable luxuries if you can happen upon them. Like many of the travel comics that I've read, this succeeds largely in reinforcing my desire not to travel to the middle east any time soon. There's definitely a sense of tension from Smith and his wife, Tania, as the story goes on and they become more and more frustrated with the indignities of travel. In fact, the tone of Baraka reads more like an ill-conceived misadventure than a joyous exposure to another culture.
Smith's story rambles a bit, like a real story of travel rather than a focused graphic novel based on real events. There's probably not a lot of exaggeration or editing done here, as it reads very much like a "warts and all" look at the trip. The unfortunate side of this is that the interesting stories are mixed in with the more mundane moments, and so the story isn't consistently interesting. It may be accurate, but it's not always engaging, as it sometimes feels like sitting in a room with your stoned friends listening to them talk about something only they can see at the moment. In other words, if you've been on a similar journey, you'll probably be able to relate to the stories in Baraka much easier. If you haven't done much traveling, like myself, you're left with the rather unfulfilling revelation that "other cultures are different."
I hate to make direct comparisons, because Baraka isn't trying to be this book, but I can't help but compare the book to Carnet De Voyage by Craig Thompson, one of the best comics I've read all year and probably the best travelogue comic the industry is going to produce for a while. Smith's writing style is similar to Thompson's, in that it's a personal journey, but it's different in that he doesn't really let us into his head much. We're seeing the story from outside, no narration or journal entries or whatever until the end, and the book lacks an emotional punch as a result. It's interesting to look at another culture, but there's nothing to react against, really, no examination of what these cultural changes mean to Smith or his wife. Instead, we're left to guess at a lot of their reactions, and so a lot of the magic and mystery of travel is left unexplored in favor of a somewhat dry relation of a sequence of events.
As long as we're making unfair comparisons, it's also worth noting that Smith's artwork is not particularly suited to the travelogue style, as Thompson's was. His style is more suggestive than expressive, and the geography of the place, which is half of the fun, is left mostly to the readers' imaginations as a result. However, Smith's work is exceptional in other ways. The drug haze that envelops him a couple of times is conveyed in a way that makes it one of the easiest sequences to relate to, even if you've never done any drugs harder than alcohol, and I love the exaggerated, almost caricaturish appearances of the characters, which gives them all a strong visual personality. I'm thinking particularly of the aggressive drug dealer in the early going or the disturbing, cackling old woman in the carpet shop.
Baraka and Black Magic doesn't particularly make me want to get up and take a trip, nor does it really convey the exotic fun that can be had in overseas travel. What it does well is convey a sense of frustration with traveling and of the strange and disconnected reality of a foreign land. It's not truly what I look for in travelogue stories, but it's a completely honest and sporadically engaging tale of an American couple in over their heads, to some degree, in a trip through Morocco. 6/10
