New Orleans After the Deluge

A.D. is a webcomic by Josh Neufeld that tells the stories of several survivors of the Katrina assault on New Orleans 2 years ago. It's a pretty novel way to bring this kind of theme under attention and has already garnered a lot of press attention throughout the US and surrounding countries.

It's pretty unique since it uses real persons and their stories to bring the comic to life, check out the FAQ to see how it all works (excerpts below):

Is A.D. true?
Yes. The characters are real, the dialogue is taken from direct quotes, the depictions of the inside of their homes are what the inside of their homes look like, down to the DVDs on their shelves and collars on their dogs.

How did you find the characters?
Old-fashioned legwork. Via friends (and friends of friends), who live or lived in New Orleans, talking to people who ran nonprofits and other local organizations, hearing different accounts on the radio or reading them on the Internet—lots of asking and looking around. After coming up with a list of possible people for the project, Neufeld and Smith went to the region to meet each potential character in person. Ultimately, six people emerged as the main “characters” in A.D. One of them, Leo, was a reader of Neufeld’s blog (and, as fate would have it, had always dreamed of being a character in a comic).

It's a pretty compelling read, especially if you realise the amount of work that has gone into the research and the way everything is depicted. The image below, for example, is practically a copy of my in-car sound system (I'd guess the GM takeover of Saab has got something to do with that).

It's rare to find such recognisable elements and authenticitiy in storytelling, especially in advertising and branding stories. Why is it that don't we take the time to get things right and to see if the stories we tell could actually be a part of someone's life? Sure, we often try to depict potential realities, but that doesn't mean there should not be a fit with the world we live in today...

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There’s also another look at the same theme with a photographer who shot people in the days after. Knowing the context of when the shots were taken gives a deeper meaning to their expressions.

http://makethelogobigger.blogspot.com/2007/08/few-photographs.html