Burma Chronicles

After developing his acclaimed style of firsthand reporting with his bestselling graphic novels "A Journey in North Korea" and "A Travelogue from China", Guy Delisle is back with "Burma Chronicles". In this country notorious for its use of concealment and isolation as social control - where scissors-wielding censors monitor the papers, the de facto leader of the opposition has been under decade-long house arrest, insurgent-controlled regions are effectively cut off from the world, and rumour is the most reliable source of current information - he turns his gaze to the everyday for a sense of the bigger picture. Delisle's deft and recognisable renderings take note of almsgiving rituals, daylong power-cuts and rampant heroin use in outlying regions, in this place where catastrophic mismanagement and ironhanded rule come up against profound resilience of spirit, expatriate life ambles along, and non-governmental organisations struggle with the risk of co-option by the military junta. "Burma Chronicles" is drawn with a minimal line, and interspersed with wordless vignettes and moments of Delisle's distinctive slapstick humour.