The Aya story began two decades ago, when Marguerite Abouet, a Parisian legal assistant with roots in Ivory Coast, got together with Clément Oubrerie, an animator and children’s book illustrator, to produce a graphic novel inspired by her African childhood. That book eventually became a bestselling series, one loved and acclaimed for its vivid portrayal of life in Ivory Coast in the 1970s, a period during which the country experienced an economic boom. Since translated into 15 languages, it made both Abouet and her creation, Aya, comics superstars.
And now they’re back. Twelve years after the last book was published, Abouet and Oubrerie have returned with Aya: Claws Come Out, in which our heroine and her crowd are now well on their way to adulthood. And the good news is that their adventures are as bewitching as ever. If this new volume is frequently very funny, it’s also sharp: here, for instance, are a couple who don’t know whether to be more alarmed by their gay son or their unnervingly literate toddler grandson (either way, neither must be spoken of in front of their neighbours – or not until a traditional doctor has been consulted). It’s the 1980s now, and while life’s still good for many in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s cosmopolitan capital, corruption is rising, whether we’re talking about dodgy pastors-cum-businessmen or unscrupulous university authorities.
