We refrain from too much current events here, but the continuing story of the death of Benazir Bhutto has a tiny little comic book connection that adds to the poignancy of it all. If you saw the news this weekend, you’ll recall that Bhutto’s 19-year-old son Bilalwal Zardari has been named the symbolic head of her political party. This reminiscence in the UK Times by her friend Mahnaz Malik reveals Bilawal is one of us:
Bilawal is 19 years old, only a decade my junior, yet I cannot help but think of him as a child. I have always known him as one of Benazir’s three children, for whom she and I drove around London buying Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books.
Malik goes on to say:
I remember him as a shy, bespectacled teenager, often looking after his sisters. He was a film buff and I would struggle to choose a film that he had not seen when we all went to the cinema. Bibi was keen on reading and bought books by the boxful. But she was broadminded enough to realise that teenage tastes can vary. I remember one summer, we spent the entire afternoon at a comic book shop near Russell Square as Bilawal, with his sisters, completed their collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel comic books. Bibi patiently accompanied them.
That store sounds a lot like Gosh! In all the tragedy and tumult of these sad times, the idea of someone whose will find a place in history beside Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi and Archduke Francis Ferdinand going to the comics shop to buy comics for her kid is perhaps a fitting one for this day and age.
UPDATE: Bilawal’s comic-book reading ways are now being held against him, along with several other drawbacks:
The call came as supporters of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party expressed dismay at the naming of her 19-year-old, comic book-collecting son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and his allegedly corrupt father, Asif Ali Zardari, as her successors.
Bilalwal will have a 24-hour armed guard while at Oxford: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23430072-details/Benazir+Bhutto's+son+to+have+24-hour+armed+guard+while+studying+at+Oxford/article.do
I hope he’ll seek his destiny elsewhere. His family has suffered enough loss. Let others save Pakistan from the Islamic fanatics. (*IF* that is even possible.)
benazir was a great leader of pakistan.this is a biggest loos of the world and pakistan.god give her place in jannat.aamin..bilawal is not suietable for this seat because this is the seat of bhuttos family and zulfiqar ali bhutti junior is only the person who is suitable and owner of his grandfather,s seat..anyway god bless.
kadam barhao benazir hum tumharay saath hain…..benazir zindaabad
this is a war of life and u loose this war.from every home bhutto came out.how many bhutto u kill…….mian ali akabr..mob..923335862587…res..92544646087
Something that makes even less sense than comic collecting — Pakistani politics.
Bilawal is the best choice at the moment to lead PPP and his training and leadership qualities (which he got/inherited from her great mother) will, i am sure, be the tourch for him and he will lead the country to the destination where daughter of east wanted to see.
I wish Bilawal could had some more time for comic books.
While visiting a factory in Detroit, then-President Bill Clinton remarked how, as a child, he had taken a trunk full of comics and sold them lemonade-stand-style. President Reagan was a big fan of comicstrips, reading that section of the newspaper first.
strange bedfellows, or fellow travelers?
BENEZIR BHUTTO WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO PAKISTAN!! GODS GIFT TO PAKISTAN N REST OF THE WORLD. I JUST FEEL FOR HER SON BILAWAL THAT AT THIS TENDER AGE HE HAS SO MUCH ON HIS SHOULDERS MAY ALMIGHTY GIVE HIM THE COURAGE TO FIGHT AND AND HAVE THAT SPARK IN HIM TO KEEP BENEZIRS NAME ALIVE!!!! FOR BENEZIR MY FRIEND WE HAVE NEVER MET BUT MY PRAYERS TO MY BHAGWAN IS REST IN PEACE I KNOW THERS ALWAYS PEACE IN JANNAT SURROUNDED BY ANGLES LIKE YOU!!!BLESS YOUR SON FROM THERE.
Finally, proof that buying comics can get you killed.
hasn’t the family suffered enough?
why do you feel the need to spread her son’s questionable tastes in comic books?
tmm kitnay bhutto maru ge har ghar se bhutto niklay ga !!!!!!jia bhuttooooooooo
Wow, I think I remember that. I used to work at Gosh, and I remember a family of Pakistani kids looking for Buffy comics, and we spent a few hours with them trying to find all the issues they were missing. The only reason it stood out was that usually Pacific Rim customers would only buy Archie comics, as they’re almost the only US comics you can get over there, so it was a bit unusual. I seem to remember they spent a fair bit too!
Had no idea who they were though, I guess you never know whether the fan-boy you’re selling comics to will grow up to be!
Maybe Musharraf really hates comic book fans.
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