Grand Theft Absurdity: A Baffling Ban

Imagine a world... Where cold-blooded killers walk among you...  Weapons are bountiful and plenty... And you can just drive around like a total maniac! No, this isn't Rockstar Games' groundbreaking video game series Grand Theft Auto I just described, it's goddamn Lebanon, and believe it or not, one of these can be crazier than the other, and it's not the one you're thinking of.

On November 18th, Rockstar Games re-released the latest game in the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto V (that's Roman numeral five) for next-gen consoles, PS4 and Xbox One. Soon enough, two blogs, Gino's Blog and Blog Baladi, reported that the game had been banned in Lebanon. The official PlayStation Middle East account later confirmed that the game has in fact been banned throughout the whole Middle East, not just Lebanon.

Grand Theft Auto V

So GTA V is definitely banned in Lebanon, but the question remains: why? There has been no official statement as far as I know, but it's not hard to come up with something; this is GTA after all. For those who don't know, the premise of the GTA games is that you the player are put in control of a criminal, and as this criminal, you have the ability to gun down civilians, go on a rampage in a stolen vehicle and generally cause all kinds of mayhem in a virtual city.

The games have an ESRB rating of M for Mature and are infamously adult-oriented, depicting graphic violence, using strong language, as well as involving elements such as alcohol and drugs. Not surprisingly, the games and publisher, Rockstar Games, have been the targets of heavy criticism and controversy for years. Former lawyer Jack Thompson is probably the most famous critic of the games, comparing them to murder simulators designed to turn kids into vicious killers.

The whole "video games are corrupting our youth" argument is much wider than the Thompson vs GTA battle. For example, after the infamous Columbine High School Massacre, many were quick to point fingers at the video game Doom as a motivator for the shooting. However, the moral panic soon faded as people came to their senses, and numerous studies have since shown that video games do not in fact turn kids into ruthless psychopaths.

Thug life

But Thompson's argument doesn't really work in Lebanon anyway, since we're so open and accepting of the fact that we are indeed ruthless psychopaths. We don't have sudden unexpected school shootings, or weird serial killers who kidnap young women and dress them up as Princess Jasmine from classic Disney film Aladdin then shoot them in the face while creepily singing A Whole New World. Fuck no. We shoot one another in broad daylight, rig carbombs, chop a guy's dick off, whatever man, no problem.

Perhaps it's something we're a bit more touchy about... Hmm, touchy... Touchy... Of course, the sex stuff! There are a lot of risqué activities for the player to partake in in this game. For example, the player can visit a strip club, and get a lapdance from a topless stripper, with pixelicious CGI tits. Or if you like living on the edge, you could drive around and do business with a lady of the night who can offer you various "services", for a fee that is. Yeah, it's probably the sex stuff.

Personally, I respect the developers' right to artistic expression, but I think these features are unnecessary, not because they're inappropriate, but because they're not really fun or even sexy. I mean, if you're playing the game and you get horny all of a sudden and think "Ooh I know! I'll stop by the local virtual strip club!", well you're in for some disappointment my friend, because all you'll get is a 3D rendering of a sexy woman lifelessly simulating the motion of a lapdance. Amusing perhaps, but pretty much a waste of time.

Yeah baby, shake what your virtual mama gave ya

But regardless of why the game has been banned, I'm still baffled by a lot of things about all this. First of all, remember when I said earlier "Rockstar Games re-released the latest edition in the series, Grand Theft Auto V"? That's right: RE-released. GTA V came out on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 17th 2013. That's more than a year ago! The game has been available for purchase in Lebanon on last-gen consoles for more than a year, so why exactly wasn't it banned back then?

"Ah, but you see, the new version has all that dirty stuff added!" you must be thinking. Nope, not quite. The only significant changes made for this re-release of the game are technical ones, like improved graphics and the introduction of a first-person mode. Pretty much everything else has been there all along since the initial release last September. So what's the deal then? Is improved framerate going to corrupt our fragile youth or what?

LOOK AWAY KIDS!

Secondly, even if physical copies of the game are banned, there are both legal and illegal means for people to acquire it digitally. PC users can pirate it off the web for no cost whatsoever, or if they're feeling generous, opt to legitimately purchase it from a digital distributor like Steam. PS4 and Xbox One users can also legally purchase the game from each console's digital marketplace, the PlayStation Store and Xbox Games Store, respectively. Uh... Thx thx thx dawle?

Finally, the act of suppressing information in the digital age is a pretty tricky thing to pull off, and it's no different with a video game, in fact  it's probably even more difficult. Even if the game itself were banned, people could still easily look it up on YouTube and find millions of videos of other people playing it: these are called Let's Plays. Or you could find cut scenes from the game, or even look for videos of specific things like if you search for "GTA V strip club" for example.  You'll see it, you'll see it all, no game necessary!



I don't know for sure why the game was banned, or why this particular GTA game was banned despite previous games having pretty much the same tone and elements involved, but what I do know is that this is a really weird move. It seems to me like this is more about making a public statement about moral values rather than actually protecting the public from any real threat.

But fear not, for I have a solution that will make everyone happy: lift the ban and ban another game instead! We don't all agree on the sex stuff, right? But what we do all agree on is that ISIS are bad, right? Well then, say hello to Grand Theft Auto: Salil Al Sawarem, an ISIS produced video game, which is actually a modded version of a previous game in the GTA series, where you get to walk around as an actual terrorist, not a dude in a city, but an actual terrorist in the desert, shooting up cops and soldiers, and blowing up their vehicles as well.

According to ISIS the purpose of the game is to "raise the morale of the mujahedin and to train children and youth how to battle the West and to strike terror into the hearts of those who oppose the Islamic State.” This thing is Jack Thompson's wet dream: it's literally a terrorism simulator!



So the question now is:

Lebanon, what do you really want to ban: Boobs or ISIS?

Boobs?

or ISIS?



The choice is yours...

Retro Orientronica Hop... or Something: Arab Producers Getting Nostalgic

Not too long ago, I ventured out of my evil lair and made my way to Metro Al Madina for a performance that was taking place that night called Gharam Wa Intiqam (Love and Revenge).

Gharam Wa Intiqam is an audio-visual project by rapper and producer Wael Kodeih, a.k.a. Rayess Bek and photographer Randa Mirza a.k.a. La Mirza, with Kodeih performing live electronic and instrumental hip hop beats that sample classic Arabic pop and tarab music and Mirza VJ-ing a selection of clips from classic Arab cinema, from raunchy makeouts to action-packed chases, and a whole lot of bellydancing.



After the show, I started connecting some dots… The material that Rayess Bek played had a lot of similarities to other stuff I had been hearing locally for the past year or so: instrumental beats that walk the line between electronic music and instrumental hip hop with a prevalent interest in reviving and reinventing classic Arabic music and culture.

The art of sampling tarab and setting it to a beat is nothing new for local hip hop producers, it's almost a rite of passage, however creating instrumental compositions in that style, designed to hold up on their own in the absence of a rapper and be their own thing, is a bit of a breakthrough. Sample choices, dialogue clips used, even different rhythms, all the elements that go into the composition become very crucial choices and indicators of skill and personal taste. And that's why I feel a certain trend is brewing: Retro Orientronica Hop… or something.

For this reason, I'm going to highlight three of these artists who I feel most strongly demonstrate this style and talk a bit about what each of them brings to the table. Now these aren't the ONLY artists doing this type of thing, but they are ones that I've been aware of for some time, and they fit a certain criteria, which is to have released or performed multiple compositions in this style, not just a one-off trial or single track on an album. It has to kind of be their thing, not their only thing, but an extensively practiced and perfected thing nonetheless.

Rayess Bek



Might as well begin with Rayess Bek himself. For years I only knew Rayess Bek as a rapper, both for his solo work and as part of his original duo Aks'Ser, although he did produce his own beats, but so do a lot of rappers. Eventually he put his production work front and center in 2012 with Goodbye Schlöndorff, a previous multimedia project of his centered around audio messages recorded onto cassette tapes and sent by individuals to relatives during the Lebanese civil war, which Kodeih mixed into his own electronic hip hop beats.

At the time, I considered Goodbye Schlöndorff a huge step forward for Arabic instrumental hip hop and developed a newfound respect for Rayess Bek as a producer: this guy wasn't just going to produce to rap over, he actually has some stories to tell through sound, and I'd like to hear them...

Rayess Bek

When I attended the performance of Gharam Wa Intiqam, I got the same feeling I did with his last performance: This. Is. Awesome. The beats were a bit more hip hop than electronic with the sampling of tarab, Arabic pop and dialogue, from mostly Egyptian cinema; all in all very reminiscent of trip hop.

 While Goodbye Schlöndorff was about relaying the experiences of unknown individuals, Gharam Wa Intiqam was more of a tribute to vintage Arab pop culture with all its charm and cheesiness. The greatest proof of this is that the track that closed off the show was a rework of the Grendizer theme with samples from the Arabic dubbed version most of us grew up watching. Speaking of old school Arabic-dubbed anime…


Al Rajol Al Hadidi



Al Rajol Al Hadidi (The Iron Man) is the alias of an unknown producer who gained some exposure in recent months, and I seriously have no idea where he's from or anything. How did I find out about him then? Well he followed me on SoundCloud and I curiously checked his profile and found his awesome EP Thouhour Wa7sh (The Monster Appears).

Al Rajol Al Hadidi has a super tight atmosphere built around himself and his work. In his hip hop beats, he samples quite a bit from classic tarab but a lot more from 60s and 70s era pop music and soundtracks from television of that period, with synthesizers and more Western instruments, that still have that distinct Oriental vibe.

Al Rajol Al Hadidi, I wanna high five you man, but...

There's a strong MF Doom influence, as evidenced by the use of dialogue snippets from Arabic-dubbed anime that invoke a sense of danger and mystery. Doom used similar clips from Marvel comics cartoons of the 60s and 70s to create this mythology of his Doom character as a great villain (based on the Fantastic Four's deadly foe Dr. Doom of course). Al Rajol Al Hadidi however doesn't create a fictionalized version of himself, but instead paints a picture of a world of sci-fi adventures, with monsters, time machines and more.

Unfortunately, Al Rajol Al Hadidi's second EP Babel did not continue with the established theme of vintage sci-fi adventure, but was instead just the standard affair of beats with samples; good beats, but not Thouhour Wa7sh good. Kind of ruined my hopes that his material would be more consistent, and expand this nostalgic sci-fi world he set the groundworks for in his previous EP, but we will just have to wait and see what the man of iron has in store for us…

Hello Psychaleppo



Last but not least there's Hello Psychaleppo, the current project of Syrian producer and musician Zimo, who has made this style his thing way more than Rayess Bek or Al Rajol Al Hadidi have, with two cohesive albums already under his belt. Hello Psychaleppo's whole body of work revolves around the concept of marrying modern electronic music with Arab folk styles, from tarab to Bedouin.

The music is heavily electronic, covering genres like dubstep and drum n' bass in its own little way, with some dub and hip hop influences as well. Zimo incorporates the traditional Arab sound through samples from classic tarab and speech clips of chants and phrases, borrowing the voices of tarab legends such as Oum Kalthoum and Abdelhalim Hafez, as well as composing his synthesized melodies in a distinctly Oriental scale.

Hello Psychaleppo

I don't want to put people on pedestals or anything, but in my mind, the recent popularity of this style, trend, approach, movement, whatever was kind of kickstarted by Hello Psychaleppo's 2013 album Gool L'Ah. I know Hello Psychaleppo did not invent the very concept of fusing Oriental music with electronic beats, but creating a whole album with that intent certainly did ignite a spark and get some people inspired in my opinion, as evidenced by what Rayess Bek and Al Rajol Al Hadidi have put out since.

Or it could all just be a big coincidence, what do I know…

No Late Nights for Lebanon

I don't currently watch a lot of TV, local or otherwise, but as a kid and young teen, you bet I did; I watched the hell out of that TV, especially at night... Every evening, one of my rituals would be to tune in to the Paramount Comedy Channel, which existed back then, and watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, eagerly anticipating the following program, the highlight of the night: Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In addition to these two, I sometimes caught Late Show with David Letterman, though not as frequently. If it was a late night American talk show, I knew I couldn't lose.

The formula of funny host + house band+ standup + skits + celebrity guests + musical guest became the golden standard of entertainment for me. You got jokes, you got some parody and "experimental material", like when Leno would showcase some funny newspaper clippings or Conan would take a prophetic look into the year 2000 (even well after the year had passed...), and you got a random musical performance that you may have ended up liking.

Currently, Lebanon's best attempt to emulate the late night talk show format is Hayda Haki, hosted by Adel Karam. It debuted around a year ago, and is currently in its second season. However, I don't think this trainwreck remotely qualifies as a late night talk show. It's a travesty! It's like if you gave a kid some paper and crayons, and asked them to draw a person, and they present you with a crude stick figure smeared with their own shit. You had one job...

To explain why I feel this way, I'll have to address some issues I've picked up on in the show, and do a bit of comparison between it and what I consider a model late night talk show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, or even his current show Conan: same host, same level of excellence!  Speaking of hosts, a handful of these issues relate directly to the host himself, so that should be as good a place to begin as any.

CoCo: the host with the most

I grew up on S.L. Chi, La Youmal and even Abou Riad, so for years I had nothing but respect and fondness for Adel Karam. He even starred in S.L. Film, which I still wholeheartedly regard as one of the greatest Lebanese movies ever made; I am not even being sarcastic right now. And I once bumped into him in a barber shop in 2010 and gave him a thumbs up; a thumbs up I would later wish to take back...

When I first saw Adel hosting Hayda Haki, I quickly realized why despite my enjoyment of his past endeavors, this new gig just wasn't his thing: Adel is an actor, not a comedian. Sure he has the personality and can crack a couple corny jokes here and there, but he doesn't write his own material, or improvise, or use physical humor. What you see on the show is a very stiff delivery of pre-written, heavily rehearsed material. It's more akin to theater: the content is humorous, but the execution is rigid and not subject to change or elaboration.

Compare him to Conan, who regularly adlibs and improvises, uses his body and reacts to the audience. If an audience member were to go "I love you Conaaaan!" while he's delivering his opening monologue, he would probably respond with "Yes, I love you too sir…" or "Whoa!" or even just laugh! A genuine human reaction goddamit! Adel on the other hand would probably just pause and grin, then continue where he left off.

Alright, what did I say about interrupting me?
Great, now I have to start over...

Now for a more subjective issue. It's just a matter of taste really, but I feel like it could make or break a show for a viewer, and I will be talking a whole lot about it: Adel is smarmy as hell! He's got this arrogant jagal az3ar persona that rubs me the wrong way, and I just can't relate to him at all. If you're into that, sure whatever, but I really would have liked to see someone more likable and endearing, you know? 

Like Georges Khabbaz for instance, with his Charlie Chaplin inspired awkward lovable goofball schtick. Yes he's an actor too, but at least he makes me laugh! Or maybe Adel's frequent co-star, Abbas Chahine, with his George Costanza-esque fits of rage and frustration, channeling the voice of the average down on his luck, just trying to get by, Lebanese citizen. That's who I want to see addressing me every week! Not some smug douchebag!

If you've never seen the show, you may think I'm exaggerating a bit. Let's do a case study then and see how a certain scenario would go down on Conan, and then Hayda Haki. The situation is: the show's guest is a woman who happens to be sexually attractive. Cool? Let's go!

When supermodel Marisa Miller, voted Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM magazine, stopped by Conan, it went like this:

He does the over-the-top "Yes! Woohoo! Sexy lady!" gags at the beginning, and they're silly and goofy, pretty funny stuff. Now that those are out of the way, the rest is just a casual chat about her career, her hobbies, some funny anecdotes, which though had some slightly sexual undertones, and I'm thinking about the story where she had her pants accidentally pulled down during a game of American football, weren't at her own expense; she was in on the joke, she was telling the joke!

Hell, she was even talking about how she learned to swordfight and said "I love doing physical things", but Conan didn't take a single shot. Instead, he allowed his guest to tell her story, which is the whole point of the interview: to learn more about the lady and get viewers to know her as more than just a pretty face in magazines. This interview lasted for about 8 minutes by the way.

Now when pop star Haifa Wehbe stopped by Hayda Haki, it went like this:

Adel begins his interview with such totally not pervy quips like "Ana el albe 3ambidi2…", "Smalla 3leyke, smalla 3leyke!" and "Yekhzel3en 3annik… Smalla, le3be!" Hey Adel, if your lighthearted ice-breaker remarks about how sexy your guest is could seamlessly fit right into the dialogue of a gritty back alley rape scene, you're fucking it up big time man! Are you creeped out yet ladies? Well stick around! We still have an hour of this to go! 

After putting his guest at ease with his razor sharp wit and tasteful humor, Adel proceeds to ask her about stuff, a lot of irrelevant stuff, with some granules of useful information here and there, like how she feels about being a fashion icon, or her acting and singing work. Whenever she was asked about her career, Haifa did give some genuine responses and talked about her projects and collaborations; she's clearly not just there to look pretty. Despite being extremely sexy, she doesn't want this whole thing to be about how sexy she is.

But no matter what the topic was, Adel always ends up going back to that godawful sleazy horndog routine. That was his end-game really: spewing out as many cheesy pickup lines and lewd remarks as humanly possible. Oh sorry, I meant, as Tex Avery Wolf-ly possible. For fuck's sake, he even asked whether or not she gets raped in the film she's promoting, but he didn't phrase it like "Well, it's been a hot topic in the press lately, so I'd like you to address this now for the people at home", oh no, he just went in all "Yeah nice movie babe, so do you get raped in it or what? C'mooon don't be shy. Woof!".

Adel conducting an in-depth interview

Let me say this, as a big fan of George Carlin and edgy comedy in general: you have every right to be as offensive as you'd like to be, as long as you're funny about it. It's your right, it's your voice, it's your style of humor. But if you're going to be both offensive and insufferably lame, that's just a double fail my friend…

On the subject of being offensive and funny: this show seems to have never heard of parody, satire, or pretty much any form of comedy that isn't an opinionated joke. After Conan's monologue, he would play a pre-recorded skit, or bring in some actors and have something "spontaneously" occur live in the studio, or whatever, you get the idea. There's effort and variety.

Now Adel, he just sits at his desk, giving his pre-written carefully rehearsed opinions on a news item or video or whatever the researchers found for him to feel strongly about that week. And he doesn't take a tongue-in-cheek satirical stance, like ChiNN do, or shoot a little sketch parodying a certain event that took place earlier in the week, but instead, just directly expresses agreement or disagreement with the issue and jokes about it. It's like getting in a taxi with an annoying cabbie once per week.

Effort and variety

Did I mention how long this show is by the way? On average, a late night talk show, with monologue, skits, 2 guests, and a musical act, has a running time of about an hour tops. You know how long Hayda Haki is? With it's monologue, Adel's crap and a mere one guest? An hour and a half! I mean yeah, obviously, Adel's so full of charisma and imagination, why the hell not!

They wanted to keep him on for a measly hour, but when he did that impression of Popeye singing Fairouz while dancing dabke on rollerblades, they knew, they immediately knew, what the people wanted... What the people deserved! Lucky for the people, the house band are there to keep doing a mini impromptu jam after every couple jokes to keep the audience awake; I am not kidding. 

They have to do something at least, since the producers don't even trust them enough to perform an opening theme for the show live every week. Instead it's some irrelevant electro-blues ringtone thing. God forbid you compose a catchy tune that reflects the style and tone of the show and gives it a unique identity, unlike this crap you have now, this uninspired, generic... Totally lame and... Cheesy... On second thought, I take it back: this theme works fine as is. Excellent choice.

But you know, the band isn't just there to play music, for you see, it is a longstanding late night talk show tradition for the host to chat with the bandleader every now and then, for comedic effect of course! David Letterman has keyboardist Paul Schaffer, Jay Leno had guitarist Kevin Eubanks, Jimmy Fallon has The Roots, and Conan had drummer Max Weinberg, who he regularly involved in skits. A host and a bandleader can be a great duo!

A great duo!

Filling that role on Hayda Haki is guitarist Chady Nashef... and, well he's a little dry. But seriously though: I don't feel it would be entirely fair of me to be too harsh on the guy. After all, he's a decent guitarist who scored a bigtime gig, and I don't think he aspires to become a comedian himself or anything. But nonetheless, I've gotta say it: Adel's interactions with Chady are some of the most inexplicably awkward moments in the entire show... And I don't mean "Conan and Max staring blankly at one another" awkward, I mean "Whaaaa?"

He seems like a jolly dude really, always chuckling at Adel's jokes, but other than that, he doesn't really add much. Adel's just obligated to make small talk with him because he needs the host-bandleader relationship to happen, but the chemistry's clearly not there, so it just feels weird and forced. Again, the dude was hired to play guitar, and he does indeed do that! It's not in his job description to be a hilarious comic foil for Adel. But still... Whaaaa?

You can't stay mad at that face though... Rock on bro

So, to sum it up: what's wrong with Hayda Haki? It's way too long, the humor is unimaginative and forced, the band only serves as cheap filler, and the host is mercilessly unbearable. 

Look, I don't shit on things for the hell of it, you know? I genuinely want there to be a great late night talk show in Lebanon some day! With a funny host who can hold his own out there and keep us laughing, a band that can rock the studio and get everybody dancing (even at home), clever jokes that don't insult the audience's intelligence, skits, sketches, gags, props and pranks we'd be excited to tune in for week after week and talk about the next day with our friends, guests of all fields and backgrounds, from singers to fashion designers to athletes, and musical guests from both the mainstream and alternative music scenes, giving artists of all genres and styles a platform to be heard. HAYDA haki… see what I did there?

Hey! New Issue!: A Lebanese Comic Buyer's Tale + Cool Future Prospects?

Ah, comics. Despite Lebanon's dismissive attitude towards the medium and the culture associated with it, comics have been one of my lifelong interests and passions for years now. But a lot has changed in the local market since I first became an active fan and buyer of comic books and graphic novels: what types of comics are available, where they can be purchased and even what's being produced locally. There have certainly been some big shifts, both good and bad, but a pretty good one may be on the way: could Lebanon have an actual comic book store soon? 

 Now before I get into the uncertain future, I need to lay down some context, and tell you a bit about the past, and present, or at least my own personal experiences as a Lebanese comics fan and buyer.

In the grand old year of 2000, my dear mother bought my brothers and I each one comic book. Mine was an issue of a Spider-Man title that ran at the time: Peter Parker: Spider-Man #34; I still own the damn thing, with little rips, visible scotch-tape rescue operations and all. Despite having been exposed to comics prior, this was the first comic book that I felt I truly owned and wanted to hang on to. And thus it began...

Mah baby...

Comic books in Beirut were pretty abundant and evenly distributed. Acquiring them was as simple as checking the magazine rack of any book store, stationary shop or even the supermarket; hell that was practically the sole purpose of the BHV checkout line as far as I was concerned.

And what kinds of titles could you find? The big two are a given of course. You had the Marvel titles like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, X-Men. You had the DC titles like Superman, Batman, Justice League, Green Lantern (I once got an issue of Batman Beyond, that was actually a thing!) In addition, you also had stuff like Dark Horse's Star Wars comics, Archie and Sonic the Hedgehog (just, why…), and even MAD magazine.

Graphic novels could be found as well, although I have slightly hazier memories about them, since I only got into them in more recent years. I do know for a fact that they were indeed available to certain degrees, though a bit harder to come across than their cheaper monthly counterparts; I wasn't actively seeking them out at the time, so take this with a grain of salt.

You had titles from the big two, and related publishers like DC's imprint Vertigo for instance, some lesser-known indie stuff, and most importantly, it was the go-to medium for locally-produced material, which was almost exclusively published in book form, as opposed to monthly comics. Books like the Samandal anthologies, Joumana Medlej's Malaak series, and more.

Yup, all bases were pretty much covered… OR WERE THEY?!

AAAARGH!

At some point, in the late 2000s, the comic book river got drier and drier, until it became the pathetic trickle that it is today. I would assume poor sales were the reason behind this, but that's just my guess. To tell you the truth, I had taken a break from monthly comics purchasing when this happened. So I sort of left my house, and came back to find it had been burned down and shat on, as the saying goes. Remember all those titles I listed above? Gone! I think you can still find a few, desperately collecting dust on the stands, like Superman or Archie or something, but who gives a crap about Archie? Nobody, that's who.

As far as I'm concerned, the comic book as a popularly consumed medium in Lebanon had died. Look, I don't have any annual sales reports or whatever, but from my own totally non-business perspective: the disappearance of comic books from the market probably didn't do much in the way of popularizing comics culture or fostering its community locally.

Now graphic novels on the other hand, those actually flourished in the wake of "the great comic book genocide" or "comicalypse" if you will. Book stores began carrying a lot more titles, in terms of both quantity and variety, from more diverse publishers, and there were even more adult-oriented ones, which was awesome, because I'm sort of the target demographic.

Most of these stores all carry titles from within the same spectrum (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, etc.), so I have to give props to one particular establishment, which would be Papercup, who have a great collection of more "artsy" titles from publishers like Fantagraphics and such.

 What filled a shelf or two a few years prior, now warrants a section of its very own in most outlets; the graphic novel had taken the comic book's place as Lebanon's preferred comics format, and what a relief that is. The fact that graphic novels didn't get wiped out the same way comic books did, but instead grew more popular with consumers and were more in demand, is nothing but win for the local community and the culture.

Geek Express keepin' it geeky

I should also note that hardcore collector culture got a significant push recently through tech-centric open space, Geek Express, when they began offering a variety of vintage Marvel comics and collector's items, such as figurines. Prior to that, one of the few places I knew that catered to those consumers was Gift Mania, which specializes in toys, collectibles and related merchandise.

But a magazine rack, book store or techie open space are only vessels for these things, not exclusively dedicated to providing them and solely catering to the consumers that buy them. Which brings us back to the original question: could Lebanon have an actual comic book store soon?

The answer is: yes... maybe!

For 4 months, three dudes who go by John, Emilio and Cyril, have been contemplating a project dear to their hearts, and that would be to establish a genuine honest-to-God comic book store here in Lebanon. According to John, the motivation behind this is to give comics fans, and geeks in general, a place to call their own.

Through this store, they hope to offer comic books, graphic novels, Japanese manga (catering to Lebanon's sizable otaku culture) and even collectibles and apparel, for now at least. John also expresses an interest in making the establishment more than just a retailer, but a sort of hub where fellow enthusiasts could just hang out and mingle.

The Middle East Film and Comic Con, held annually in Dubai... lucky bastards

Lebanon needs this to happen, because I know the audience is already there, and they'd get behind this (or at least, I'd hope they would). Like I said already, there have been good and bad shifts throughout the years; the bad obviously being the near-annihilation of comic books, the good being the growth and propagation of graphic novels. Well, this is the next shift: comic books return, graphic novels grow more popular, more serious collectible products come into the mix...  It's when we as fans and consumers finally get our own thing, and have a chance to sustain it, instead of bemoaning how this place doesn't care enough, and that place doesn't get it. Like I did!

At this point in time, the concept is still in its infant stage: a rough idea being carefully studied and evaluated. I do sincerely hope the boys manage to make this vision of theirs a reality, and I can only see good things coming out of it if they do; today a comic book store, tomorrow a legit convention?

If you'd like to help them out, feel free to take the following survey. I sure did, and so should you!