Hooked: A graphic novel about the drugs trade in Guinea-Bissau

Aims

Explore the use of graphic, cartoon-style storytelling, to cover current affairs in Guinea-Bissau.

Outline

Guinea-Bissau, which has come to be known as Africa’s first narco-state, is used by South American drug cartels as a route to smuggle cocaine to Europe.

Hooked is a five-part report of the human impact of that trade in the style of a graphic novel, based on reportage.

The story is about how the international drugs trade has affected the people of this small country on the west coast of Africa.

The Hooked story

Hooked was produced in English, Farsi, and Swahili. 

The Hooked magazine was published on BBC News, and as a Taster pilot.

Hooked won "Special Commendation in the Short Feature Category" at the AIB Awards

• Read more on the Association for International Broadcasting website here

Hooked is produced by the BBC Focus on Africa TV, the BBC News Magazine and BBC NewsLabs.

The comic was made using Al Jazeera's 'Pulp'. This is an open source viewer specifically developed for displaying comics online. Anyone can use it and the details are here.

Credits and approach

• Production: Hooked was produced by the BBC Focus on Africa TV, the BBC News Magazine and BBC News Labs.
• Author: A writer from Positive Negatives travelled to Bissau to interview some of the addicts.
• Copy & Graphics: PositiveNegatives
• Process: As the addicts spent more time together the understanding of how a comic could tell the story of their lives began to take shape. Once a draft of the first chapter was written, it was read back to them, and Positive Negatives allowed them to make their own edits. This made sure that the script told their story as much as possible.
• Implementation: @Jacqui from BBC News Labs built the app using AJAM's PULP

Results

• Hooked won “Special Commendation in the Short Feature category” at the AIB Awards 2105.