Metro: A Story of Cairo

It's a good story, a bit wonky and loose, but really brings to the world the reality that we're all stuck out here, no matter where you are, no matter what country or who's in charge. And, that's very refreshing to read in literature, art.

big meh. Wanted to like this, but story goes nowhere, and honestly even the artwork is hard to follow.

A vibrant, fast paced, down to earth graphic novel. An excellent example of the rebirth of Egyptian comic books in the long overdue mature graphic novels. Elshafee is a promising rising star of the genre - if he gets to write and draw in Egypt. The book was banned for the all too familiar excuse of offending public sensibilities. In reality, it was banned because of its critique of Mubarak's Egypt. A young brilliant Egyptian software developer is pushed into bankruptcy by greedy corporations that grease the palms of corrupt government officials. As the narrative develops into what seems like a traditional thriller, we meet characters and walk in alleys, all connected to metro stops in Cairo - many of which are named after Egyptian political leaders, including Nasser and Mubarak. The metro stops and events around them reflect not only the stifling corruption and injustice of the early 2000s in Egypt, but, more importantly, reflect a dangerously rising rage among Egypt's youth, combined with a level of education and technological boom that later on characterized the Facebook and Twitter-led Egyptian revolution.Elshafee's black and white inks, racy dialogue, and rough characterization reveal a new talent worthy of attention in a sadly discouraged genre trying to grow in the Arab world.

The book has a fancy matte effect cover but the pages are really low resolution - images are blurry and the text is hard to read; this is even more important for graphic novels than for regular books. It really takes away from the experience of reading and is unacceptable at this price. It literally looks like somebody printed it from their computer.

Had expected more, shouldn't have been banned.

Bought this for a gift, arrived with a dent right at the center of the cover and the corner is messed up. Now have to go through the trouble of shipping it back. Should have went to the library, where I would have seen that the printing inside was not the quality I expected either. Would have saved me the trouble. Do not recommend