Joe Sacco

Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, once said "In a world where Photoshop has outed the photograph to be a liar, one can now allow artists to return to their original function — as reporters." And that’s what Joe Sacco is: an artist and a reporter. Joe Sacco spent five months in late 1994 and early 1995 in Bosnia interviewing people who’d survived the Bosnian War. The result was this book, Safe Area Gorazde, which is basically a written and visual documentation of what he experienced and learned there. If you don’t know, Gorazde is a town in eastern Bosnia that was a UN-designated “safe area” during the Bosnian War. But, as you’ll learn from this book, the Gorazde was anything but safe.

I think you should read this book if you’re interested in history and human nature. But this book is more than a history lesson, it’s a way to meet real people who survived a great human rights tragedy and to see the destruction wrought by the conflict.
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Another tale from the former Yugoslavia by Joe Sacco. I enjoyed this a lot - a good comic. The book focuses on Neven, a "fixer" for international visitors (mostly journalists) who need someone to show them the ropes of Sarajevo. Through Neven, it tells the story of Sarajevo in the Yugoslavian war - the sieges and the internal struggles. One thing it does really well is show the relationship between the unofficial paramilitary groups and the Bosnian government - naturally, it's a pretty ugly story.

Some of Sacco's writing seemed a little off here - too much talking to the reader as if they were Neven. Felt a bit disorienting, but not in they way that might have worked. Also the jumping around in time seemed a little gratuitous at times. Still, another wonderfully drawn, powerful book by Sacco.… (more)