At first glance, a comic book may seem like a strange choice of medium for a story about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The past few years have witnessed the increasing popularity of the graphic novel. Once a medium thought of as a naïve and popular art form, the genre combines simplicity, poignancy and irony to tell stories behind some of the last century's most tragic events.

Montreal resident Rupert Bazambanza's Smile Through the Tears is a masterful and deeply moving testament to the power of the graphic novel. Born in 1975, Bazambanza emigrated from Rwanda to Montreal in 1997 after surviving the genocide that took place there between April and July, 1994. He trained at Académie international du design and now works as a graphic artist.

Bazambanza's comic is the true story of a Tutsi family, the Rwangas. The Rwangas were personal friends of Bazambanza before the genocide was committed against nearly one million Rwandans – mostly ethnic Tutsis – by radical factions of the Hutu majority. The author himself makes sporadic appearances in the story.

We meet the Rwangas and learn about their daily lives years before the rise of ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis. Despite the dangerous political climate that begins to swarm around them, Rose and Charles Rwanga manage to teach their children tolerance and love in the midst of a rising cloud of hatred. They continue to have contact and friendships with their Hutu neighbours. But before long, the Rwanga family, like hundreds of thousands other Rwandans, are stripped of their rights and find themselves fighting for their lives. We observe the tragic events of the massacre and the torture, rape, and savage killing of innocent Rwandans through the eyes of the Rwangas and their community.

Only Rose Rwanga survived. She witnessed the murder of her daughter Hyacinthe, and she was there when Hutu forces rounded up her sons and husband to be slaughtered. For Rose, like many other Rwandans of Tutsi origin, history had repeated itself: she was orphaned during the 1959 revolution of independence resulting in the murder of ethnic Tutsis.

Before long, the Rwanga family, like hundreds of thousands other Rwandans, find themselves fighting for their lives.

Smile Through the Tears is also a story about Rwanda, and about the legacies of ethnic tension it couldn't overcome. At times Bazambanza's illustrations take on an almost caricature form, showing the racial identities of Rwandans as the colonizing nations perceived them, and, in turn, by the people themselves. Finally, it's the story about the bystanders and international peacekeeping forces that failed to intervene when they had the chance to prevent one of the largest massacres of the 20th century.

Thirteen months after the genocide, The New Yorker writer Philip Gourevitch described what it was like to visit a church where many Tutsis had been murdered. The scattered skulls and bones lay peacefully amidst the flowers that had grown in their open grave. Gourevitch wrote "the dead at Nyarubuye were, I am afraid, beautiful." For Bazambanza, the living are more beautiful. His story has given a voice to the Rwandans who didn't survive, but will never be forgotten.

Rupert Bazambanza's Smile Through the Tears ($25) can be ordered through the publisher, Les Editions Images (430 Sainte-Helene Street, Montreal, QC H2Y 2K7; tel: 514-842-7127; email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or online at www.inforacisme.com.