Joe Sacco
The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo (2003)
Author: Joe Sacco
Genre: Graphic Novel (New Journalism)
Plot Summary:
Journalist Joe Sacco has just arrived in Sarajevo after the Great Siege, and is befriended by a complex and gregarious man named Neven, a well-connected liaison to governemnt officials, front-lines, and dangerous criminals; a fixer. As Joe says, "Neven is a godsend to me too. Finnally, someone is telling me how it was - or how it almost was, or how it could have been - but finally someone is telling me something" (p.100). Their friendship continues for many years, and Neven slowly starts to reveal part of his past during the war, including his role defending Sarajevo druing the siege; it is interesting to note the patriotism shift, as Neven, a Serb, is willing to fight other Serbs (calling them Chetniks to distinguish) to protect his beloved city. This is not so much a story as a collection of reminiscences, as told by Neven, over the many years the men communicated; the focus of this book is not to tell a story or follow a plot, but to bear witness, through Neven's sotries, to the many atrocities carried out by both sides of the government during the Bosnian war. Yet the main theme of the book remains a sort of emotional snapshot of a man, The Fixer, after everything he has fought for has been lost anyway. SPOILER: Neven turns out to have fought for one of the warlords, Celo, a militant who commanded over 2000 troops.
Geographical Setting: Sarajevo, Bosnia
Time Period: 1993-2001
Series: not part of a series, but one of four books about Sarjevo/Bosnia
Appeal Characteristics:
There is very little historical background and not much detail about the war outside of the concerns of Sarajevo; readers looking for more information about the Bosnian war should look elsewhere. However, the story is compelling and the pace is fast, althoug hthe reader has to struggle to keep up with which time period each panel occurs in; the story takes place from 1993 to 2001. Sacco manages to keep a humorous, if self-deprecating, tone in telling the story of Neven, and has a compassionate touch in rendering the problems of a society struggling to rebuild after a brutal war. The art is black and white, which matches the black humor of the book well, and retains a graphic style that is at once both spare yet densely drawn. Probably the best appeal characteristic of this book is the subject matter; graphic non-fiction is a novel way to learn about a topic, much less such a difficult topic as war and destruction.
Read-alikes: Those looking for more by Joe Sacco should try Safe Area Gorazde, another story of Bosnia. It is a longer tale and mixes, as in The Fixer, Sacco's personal experiences as well as his interactions with the people who lived in the UN "safe area" of Gorazde and the national and international events surrounding them. Although somewhat less journalistic than Safe Area Gorazde, graphic novel fans looking for more ture stories about life during the Siege of Sarajevo might try Joe Kubert's Fax from Sarajevo, a collection of correspondence between Kubert, in New York, and his longtime friend, European comics agent Ervin Rustemagic, in Sarajevo. The artistic style of the novel is markedly different than that of The Fixer, but is equally effective with bold colors and sharply drawn panels. For different subject matter but similar themes, try the original manga classic Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa. Written in 1978, this story, like The Fixer, deals more with the psychological effects of war on a country and people as it follows the story of Gen, a small boy who, like the author, lived through the bombing of Hiroshima and its terrible aftermath. Barefoot Gen is a four-volume series, so readers who enjoy this first volume of the same name will have more to look forward to. Another classic graphic novel that fall in the realm of non-fiction is Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize wining Maus, which narrates the Holocaust from the perspective of Speigelman's father, who survived the concentration camps with his wife. The Nazis are cats and the Jews are mice in the sparely-drawn two-volume set, which are suggested to be read together for maximum impact and understanding of the storyline. Readers will also appreciate that Art Spiegelman, then comix editor for Details magazine, is directly responsible for Joe Sacco's works on Bosnia, having commissioned him to cover the Bosnian War Crimes Trials at the Hague in 1998. Another tale by Spiegelman that mixes the personal and political with national and international events is In the Shadow of No Towers. Here Spiegelman addresses the events of September 11 and afterwards. Those looking for a female perspective on war and its lasting damage will appreciate Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, the true story of Satrapi's life as a girl in IRan during the Islamic Revolution. Although the art seems somewhat simplistic and the tale is told from a child's perspective, the content and themes are compelling and thought-provoking, and those looking for a general history of this time period will not be disappointed. Persepolis is also one in a three-part series of the same name, with the subsequent installments focusing on Satrapi's return to Iran as an adult. Pyongyang by Guy Delisle is a tale in which the author goes to North Korea to supervise an animation studio producing a cartoon he's working on. The comic is his personal account of his time in another country, like Bosnia, that's often in the news, but which we seldom see inside. The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner details the creation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated document used by anti-Semites to detail a fictional Jewish cabal bent on alleged global domination, a strange but true story with repercussions to the present day. Dispatches Michael Herr is not a graphic novel; however, Herr was perhaps the only well-known New Journalist to focus on war reporting, in this case Vietnam. His personal style of reporting will appeal to those who enjoyed it in Sacco's work.
Red Flags: Often violent, although not gratuitously gory. Sacco's tendency is to portray events in an understated manner that somehow underscores instead of hides what he's depicting. Much of what Sacco shows and talks about is disturbing, and The Fixer contains its share of swearing, and some nudity. Additionally, some may dislike the black and white art and large amounts of text.
Palestine (2001)
Author: Joe Sacco
Genre: Graphic Novel (Comic Journalism)
Plot Summary:
Joe Sacco is journalist who spent the winter of 1991-1992 in Palestine. His quest was to get to know the people of Palestine, their struggles, and their lives as they try to survive the conflict with Israel. Sacco digs deep into the refugee camps and gets to know many people who are living in and fighting this conflict. He learns about the harsh interrogation tactics Israelis use to often convict Palestinians of crimes they did not commit, he learns about prison life for Palestinians, and he learns how these people live on a day-to-day basis with poor shelters, imposed curfews, and little-to-no wages. Sacco's black and white art is as harsh as the stories he tells, but he is able to use this to further share his experience. The novel is told in a series of vignettes which often focus on interviews and encounters with different people and thus allows the reader to get the story from many different viewpoints.
Geographical Setting: Palestine
Time Period: Winter of 1991-1992
Appeal Characteristics:
The pacing of Palestine is deliberate, at times slow, as the author/artist attempts to tell the story of the people of Palestine from his many interviews with them. From these interviews, the characterization is vivid including detailed drawings of people and encounters as well as some history behind the people. Yet, the story is full of so many people that it becomes clear that the characters are not the most important element, rather their stories are the focus of the novel. With all these characters and backgrounds the story line is complex, but Sacco tells each story in an episodic manner allowing readers to take time to understand the complexity. It would be hard to describe the novel's tone as anything other than dark based on the setting and the many real-life tragedies discussed. Full of political and religious tension the story uses the Middle East setting to frame this dark tone in a bleak and mournful time. Sacco's wri
ting style does not intentionally add to the darkness of the story, instead he simply tells it (and draws it) as it is. His descriptions and dialogue are very matter-of-fact and candid. It appears at times he even tries to find some humor in such despair, but overall his words and the art portray a situation that is often violent and hopeless.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed Sacco's Palestine will very likely enjoy Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. In this graphic novel the author discusses her childhood during the Islamic Revolution and the danger she encounters. Like Palestine the art in this graphic novel is a stark black and white, but it is the similar story line of people living under threatening conditions that will most likely appeal to fans of the former title. Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 is another title that people who liked Palestine may find appealing. In this graphic novel the author takes his reporting skills to a small Muslim town in Bosnia to learn how the lives of these people have changed since the siege by Serbs. Readers will again appreciate Sacco's in-depth interviews as he retells story after story of refugess whose lives are forever changed by the dissolution of Yugoslavia. This writing style again provides a frame and tone that is dark and brutal, but always honest. Another read-alike suggestion for fans of Palestine is Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale. This ground-breaking graphic novel uses cats and mice characters to depict Nazis and Jews as Spiegelman tells the story of his father's struggle to survive the Holocaust. Like Palestine, this story is complex and relies heavily on dialogue to move the story along and the story lines (though set decades apart) follow people who are struggling to survive oppression. Interestingly, the Jews who are oppressed in Maus become the oppressor in Palestine and therefore make the characterization integral to the story. Another read-alike by Spiegelman is his In the Shadow of No Towers about the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center. Using a similar writing style as Sacco, Spiegelman's novel is powerful as he tells the story of his family and life in Manhattan after the 2001 attacks. Using unpretentious language like that in Palestine to tell story of life after tragedy In the Shadow of No Towers disseminates the politics that are often involved with such tragedies. Finally, for those interested in the peace process between Palestine and Israel, I would recommend Jimmy Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in which the former president lays out his ideas to bring peace to this war-torn area. Like Sacco's Palestine the pacing can be a bit slow as the author discusses history such as UN Resolutions and U.S. politics, but the frame of these two seemingly different books are much alike. Both bring forth a Palestine that is beleaguered and ready for peace and while Sacco merely reports on the people of Palestine, Carter puts forth ideas to bring such peace.
Red Flags: Many depictions of violence both in the writing and art with some profanity as well.
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