‘Generations’ Mood Deck: A Graphic Novel Set Over One Hundred Years in the Middle East.
Part I: 1915–1950.
Generations is a character driven epic set over one-hundred years in the Middle East. Human stories and micro-narratives take place against a backdrop of political, cultural & generational change.
“I will restore what the Ottomon’s destroyed… our sense of purpose.”
Sharif Hussein
The Ottomon Empire is falling. As one civilization retracts, another appears on the horizon. This horizon belongs to those who are strong and cunning enough to claim it.
In a tent in Western Arabia the Sharif of Mecca and his three sons, Faisal, Abdullah & Ali plan a revolt that will reshape the world, and create a new caliphate. Meanwhile, in the corridors of Whitehall, other plans are being made.
Ranging from the mountains of Mecca, to the Palace of Versailles, “A New World Dawns” is a story of huge-risks, of promises broken, of an old man’s bitterness, and of the intrigues of great powers & tribal rulers to claim the future as their own.
“Our people have been here for a thousand years. Where will we go?”
Zeidan
Under the newly formed League of Nations the French control Syria as a “mandated” territory. Their rule has proven deeply unpopular, none more so than with the local Druze community, who rise up against French rule.
Feeling threatened, the French react with an air campaign that destroys entire communities. Zahida, Zeidan and their newly born baby never hurt anyone, but they are caught in the cross-hairs.
Only a baby girl, survives.
“I was young and foolish. Living my life one day at a time. And always thinking of her..”
Hamad Janbeck
The Ottoman Empire has fallen. Ottoman soldiers are being rounded up in the Arab lands to stand trial.
In a province between two valleys known as “Moab”, a Circassian soldier, and former graduate of the Istanbul military school, is being interrogated by a British officer. His name is Hamad Janbeck.
Janbeck has returned to revisit his past, and his family. A scoundrel, a rouge and a soldier, trouble follows his every footstep. A chance encounter with a strange Scottish captain and a new fighting force, known as the Arab Legion, offer him a place in the world.
“Ha! Why do they need to come here. Let me see if these machines can do what my girls do. But I wish you luck. Now let Jamila do some work, be off with you!”
Nasra Hazboun
Helaneh is Bethlehem’s favorite “tom-boy”: a girl with an unstoppable heart, and an undeniable spirit. Her best friend Jamila, is a little more temperate… working as a seamstress in the workshop of Nasra Hazboun, she has to be.
Helaneh wishes she has a job like Jamila, making the fashionable Palestinian dresses that are covering Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside in color. So when the Singer Sewing Company begins to offer training classes in Bethlehem Helaneh — as always — throws herself in, head first.
“A Walk Though the Orange Groves” tells a story of village life, creativity, fashion and community leading up to 1948.
“That was quite a performance today, Ahmad. You speak for us all, only more eloquently… Iraq will be first to fall, and Jordan next.”
Prime Minister Ali Sabri
It’s 1950s in Cairo, and a Radio DJ called “Ahmad Sai’d” is the official voice of General Nasser’s regime, on Radio Cairo.
At the apex of Egyptian society, Ahmad is the voice of revolution in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and beyond. He’s a hero to the ‘man in the street’. A pillar of the regime promising all Arabs a future independent from colonialism and the West. Ahmad is the Middle East’s first media superstar.
After work, he spends his time in Cairo’s fashionable Parisian Cafe’s and Salons, where he smokes bourbon, and lights ladies’ cigars: the charming face of a new and modern kind of corruption.
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