Joe Sacco on Comics, the Arabs and the Jews

Make it mandatory

Comments (0) By Scott Thill Wednesday, Jan 16 2008

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We often capitalize on millennia-old rivalries to get what we want.
Right, I suppose wrong is a relative term. Some might be preparing and hoping for those eventualities.

Do you think your book brought new perspective or complexity to their dilemma?
My intention was to tell something of the Palestinian point of view, not simply portray them as victims with a capital "V." On some level, perhaps because of the nature of a first-person comics narrative, I was able to show the humanity of people living in very difficult conditions. But when it was serialized in comic form, it sold very poorly. It wasn't until it was collected into a single volume and got into bookstores that it seemed to take off.

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Did you see it coming?
Its success has been a bit of a surprise to me. What's more of a surprise to me is its longevity. But I think that's an unfortunate function of its dealing with a situation that hasn't gotten any better.

What are your feelings on comics journalism? Buzzword? Occupational hazard?
I'm a cartoonist. I studied journalism. I use comics to pursue journalistic ends, but at the end of the day, I'm a cartoonist. The term describes what I do as well as any two words can. I hold myself to a high journalistic standard. I interview people and try to get down quotes as accurately as possible. But my drawings, by necessity, though based on my own observations and photos or other people's visual descriptions, cannot be absolutely accurate representations in every conceivable detail. But my drawings are quite detailed and provide as much of the essence of a scene as possible.

How has the industry changed since Palestine?
Greatly. Most importantly, comics are now distributed in bookstores; that's immensely increased readership. And where readers go, editors and reviewers follow, so now major publishing houses woo cartoonists, and mainstream magazines review comics as a matter of course. That has enabled those like me to survive and continue. But it was touch-and-go for a long time.

At this point, comics seem like some of the only books that will survive the digital age.
I have no idea if things will continue this way, but it seems there are very good creators working in the medium. Some of whom, like Marjane Satrapi, have become international stars. We're at the infancy of this trend.

What do you think of your deluxe edition?
I'm very pleased with the design, which was handled by Adam Grano at Fantagraphics. The new edition includes a long prose section devoted to explaining my working methods, since I get asked questions about that sort of thing a lot. I included excerpts from my journals, so readers can compare those to how I put them into comics form. I juxtaposed photos against their drawings, and inserted outtakes side by side with panels that replaced them. Of course, I'll be happy if the book generates income, but I'm simply glad it's finally been issued as a hardcover volume.

It should be made mandatory reading at the high school and university level.
It's used in many university classes already. Required reading is not for me to decide. But if it was, my answer would be yes!

www.fantagraphics.com/artist/sacco/sacco.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Sacco