This book was published in The Netherlands in October 2015, by Uitgeverij Meinema, with the Dutch title Wereldheerschappij in Beeld.
Text & drawings: Margreet de Heer
Color: Yiri T. Kohl
Translation: Margreet de Heer & Dan Schiff
8×8″, 152pp.
Content
This book is from the same makers as Philosophy, Science and Religion – a series that is praised for the colorful, comic and concise way it deals with tough and/or sensitive subjects. World Domination is the fourth book in the series, and has a bit more of a playful approach than the previous books, while still dealing with serious and global issues.
The book starts on a sleepless night, when a great feeling of impotence in the face of all the suffering in the world seems to suffocate comic artist Margreet. She decides to start a thought experiment: “What if I were the boss of the world?”. To make things easier, she endows herself with unlimited means and power, and soon she is the head of her own ideal society: Fort Mondial.
This position of absolute world domination initially seems to solve a lot of acute problems: a sole ruler does not have to succumb to endless consultation, but can rule swiftly and decisively. Pretty soon though Margreet is being confronted with new issues, such as: what does my New World look like? What kind of political system will it have? How will I redistribute the world’s wealth?
The book takes a look at the current powers in the world, such as the media, religion and banking. They are often described in concise historical overviews, like this one about the history of money:
The book also contains a few spreads to explain certain subjects, such as the history of democracy:
The more issues arise that a world ruler has to take into account, the more Margreet’s fictional character in her thought experiment begins to change – she starts out as a benevolent idealist, but along the way she is beset by more and more irritations, harshness and paranoia…
How will this end…?
This book invites the reader to think about the world and its powers from a point-of-view of strength and possibillities – what would YOU do if you were the boss of the world?
Target groups
This book is fun and informative for anyone with a broad range of interests, and can be read from age twelve. Many parts of this book are suited for education in schools and colleges. It gives a lot of information and invites readers to start their own thought experiment.
About the author
Margreet de Heer (1972) grew up in a family of theologians who encouraged questions and debate. She studied theology herself at the University of Amsterdam where she graduated in 1999. After this, she decided to become a comic artist. She got a job in comic store Lambiek (where she worked on a book about Dutch comics, together with Kees Kousemaker) while working on her production and skills as a graphic novelist, and in 2005 she was able to quit her job and become a full-time artist. Her comics range from kids’ comics for magazines like Flo’, Yes and Jippo, to cartoons made on location at business congresses, to newspaper comics for NRC.Next and Trouw. For the latter she made monthly “comic reports” about philosophical and spiritual subjects, between 2007 and 2011.
These comic reports caught the attention of publishing house Meinema, who asked her to draw a comic book on philosophy, which was published as Filosofie in Beeld in The Netherlands in 2010 and in 2012 in the U.S. as Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics through NBM Publishing. The philosophy book was a success, and in 2011 Margreet’s book about religion appeared as Religie in Beeld. In 2012 followed a book on science, Wetenschappen in Beeld, which appeared (as the second book in the series) at NBM as Science: a Discovery in Comics. In Fall 2015 the book about religion appeared at NBM (as the third book in the U.S.) with the title Religion: a Discovery in Comics.
Margreet is assisted by her husband Yiri T. Kohl (1975), who is himself a comic artist. He started out making obscure “underground” comix in the nineties, took a detour to paint, make poems and produce clay figurines, and finally rediscovered comics when he met Margreet in 2008. He does a lot of his wife’s coloring.
Margreet and Yiri got married in 2009 and have been doing projects ever since, not the least of which is their graphic novel series (they also dabble a bit in theater). They live and work in Amsterdam with their old cat Toto.
The Discovery in Comics series has found international acclaim through publications in the U.S., Brasil and Korea.
Press/reviews
(in Dutch)
– Interview in magazine Predikant & Samenleving:
“Margreet holds up a mirror in which we can recognize ourselves, find perspective and smile.”
– Review on Stripschap.nl:
“This book has turned out particularly well, and may be the best in the series. It gives food for thought, even more than the other parts.”