“We’re not ready to die.”
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Kevin Cosgrove, an insurance exec working on the 105th floor of 2 World Trade Center, called 911 after the planes hit. In this powerful, albeit short, comic Tell God to Blow the Wind from the West (a line that Cosgrove said as he was struggling to breathe from the smoke), Nick Drnaso adapts the call transcription between Cosgrove, the 911 operator and the Fire Department, which would be a record of Cosgrove’s final words before the building fell.
Oof. Yeah, it’s heavy stuff. The transcription is haunting and extremely moving as you realise these are the last words – the last moments – of this man’s life, and that this experience was repeated to the thousands of victims that morning.
And though this was a gripping read, I can’t give it full marks as Drnaso didn’t write any of it. What he does do, besides breaking it down into a comics layout, is fill the panels with a series of mundane black and white snapshots of an empty metropolitan landscape.
On the one hand I think it’s a tasteful choice to not try and recreate this man’s final moments, and leaving that up to the reader’s imagination is more effective anyway. The simple imagery intentionally keeps the focus on the words and it’s a chilling accompaniment to the text. Still, it feels like a minimal contribution on Drnaso’s part, especially as the imagery is very basic. I wonder if it’s meant to represent the evacuated downtown area following the attacks or its absence of people is to highlight the people who died that day?
Anyway, while obviously it’s not for anyone after a cheerful pick-me-up, Tell God to Blow the Wind from the West was a compelling read and a devastating reminder of what happened that day – I’ll definitely be reading more of Nick Drnaso’s work.