300 pgs. B & W | $44.99 hardcover | W & A: Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco may not have invented comics journalism, but he certainly pioneered and popularized it. One of his major works in the genre is the 1991-92 series Palestine, which was published in one paperback volume in 2001 by Fantagraphics and has been reissued this year in hardcover, with a new forward by Sacco commenting on what has changed since the original publication date (he describes the original text as “both out of date in details—to be expected for a 30-ear-old piece of journalism—and, sadly, all too relevant in its general scope”), and a new postscript by Israeli journalist Amira Hass. Sad to say, Palestine remains as pertinent today as when it was originally written, and provides important contextual information about the current conflict/genocide/war/choose-your-own-label that tends to not receive much coverage and consideration in the mainstream American media.
Sacco was born in Malta, spent his childhood in Australia, and his teenage and early adulthood years in California and Oregon, receiving his journalism degree from the University of Oregon in 1981. He traveled and worked at various jobs in Europe in the 1980s, first visiting the Middle East in 1991-92, spending two months in Palestine during the First Intifada. His experiences there are reflected in Palestine, which combines his direct observations with information gleaned from interviews and the testimony of people he visited, supplemented by occasional forays into the background of Palestine and the people living there.
If I had to choose one word to describe Palestine, it would be “dynamic.” Images and words jostle for space on crowded pages as if each has something to say which simply cannot be delayed or left unexpressed, and the artist’s constantly changing perspective (in the cinematic sense of the word—where the viewer is placed in relation to the image on the page) creates a sense of restlessness and a feeling that there is no peace to be found in this small territory. Sacco’s semi-realistic style of portraying people and places is appropriate to what is essentially a work of journalism, and when he uses distortion it’s always for a purpose, usually to convey strong emotion. He also uses a great variety of layouts, from regular patterns of rectangular framed panels to full-page spreads to text-heavy pages with only a few illustrations, choosing the style of each segment to match the mood he wants to convey.
The cartoonist Joe Sacco is included as a character in this story, bringing the reader with him as he discovers a world previously outside his experience and knowledge, and being upfront about his emotional responses to what he was observing and experiencing. It’s a good strategy since chances are many readers of this volume will be in a similar situation with regard to their knowledge of the Palestinian experience. It also allows him to avoid the trap of pretending to not have a point of view or worse, to have access to some pure knowledge existing outside of time and culture and conveniently removed from anyone’s lived experience.
Sacco doesn’t claim to have the last word on Palestine, and indeed there’s no last word on any highly contested issue, except if imposed by force. What he does offer is an additional source of information and a different point of view, both based in his personal experiences in the region, and that’s more than enough for one book | Sarah Boslaugh
For more information, to read a brief preview, or to order directly from the publisher, visit fantagraphics.com.
