It's Iimi! Doomed to Fail?

In logic class, Iimi finds herself the center of attention as they focus on the war in the Gaza Strip. Can she convince the class to look beyond assumptions towards what must be done in a just war? Or will the class falsely assume she is "pro-Hamas" and leave her mission… Doomed to Fail?

Pre-Comic Notes:

This comic concerns the Catholic moral teaching of war and peace. This is not always easy to see in the face of heinous evil. Yes, Hamas must be condemned. Terrorism is never justified. But it is easy to fall into the temptations of "If you're not 100% on my side, you're 100% on theirs!" and "They deserve what happens to them!" But not all Palestinians are guilty, and not all responses are morally acceptable under the teaching of Just War.

So, if anyone thinks I have equated the crimes of Hamas with the morally questionable acts of Israel, they have misunderstood my point entirely.

I began scripting the comic roughly the third day (10/10) after the terrorist attacks and finished the comic on 10/15. Netanyahu had announced Israel was at war. Reservists were called up, and Gaza was encircled and cut off. Hamas and Israel were exchanging rocket and artillery fire. Israel told the Palestinians living in North Gaza to evacuate. But there were no significant ground conflicts yet. Since the comic was finalized, the bombing of the Gaza hospital happened. It would have been discussed with the changing perspectives of what happened and the assumptions made. Certainly Pope Francis calling for a day of fasting and prayer would have been discussed. The issues of refugees and aid convoys could have been added as well.

I was surprised that, as of the night before this comic was to be published, the invasion had not happened yet. May God guide those involved to seek a just peace.

Post-Comic Notes:

The reference to the male witnesses at the detective agency comes from the Islamic rules on the testimony of female witnesses having half the value of male witnesses. While Abu Dhabi has decreed that the testimony of men and women have equal weight, lawyers in the Emirates still advise that if the case involves Muslims, there should be a minimum of two male or one male and two female witnesses.

The price Sumeja was quoted was based on the websites I found belonging to Private Investigators in Dubai. Believe it or not, you can buy gold in certain ATMs in the UAE.

Art Credits:

This comic was a bit of an experiment. To reflect the dangerous mood of the real world, I used dark and menacing wallpapers behind the comic pages.

The Cover is AI. I had an additional reason this time. Given the loss of life in this conflict, I did not want to use an actual picture of the destruction. Doing so would seem disrespectful to the innocent among the people killed in the terrorist attacks and response.

The cover is framed by a page design by Figu-Design.

The street scenes of Sharjah on pages 13 and 16 and the house scenes on pages 17 and 18 are done by AI.

Page 3, 5, 7, 18 Wallpaper Backgrounds: Publisher's Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey/Fat Goblin Games.

Page 8: The chains wallpaper © John Buckley, used with permission. The additional top and bottom decoration by Figu-Design

Page 16: The gold frame frame is © John Buckley, used with permission.

 All other page wallpapers are by Figu-Design.