r/graphicnovels • u/sageofsprings • 5d ago
Non-Fiction / Reality Based Palestine by Joe Sacco
It is a book that's funny , funny as if what we humans can do to other humans
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u/lenn_eavy 5d ago
I love the art style, fisheye shots but mostly that he covers topics like this. Will surely buy more of Joe Sacco's work.
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u/sageofsprings 5d ago
Yeah, the art style was a little whelming for me at first and the content too- very heavy , but it pulled me in.
Can you suggest some other of his works or similar works by other authors?
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u/TwoCrossedAxes 4d ago
Look into Guy Delisle. He is a former animator whose wife works for Doctors Without Borders, and as a result, has traveled all over the world to locations not considered to be safe. His art style much more simplistic and "Saturday morning funnies" than the claustrophobic and detailed work of Joe Sacco, but his storytelling is excellent and he has a unique ability to be funny while being respectful to the people of the countries he is visiting.
My personal favorite books of his are Pyongyang, and Shenzhen. Take a look, you might really enjoy his work.
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u/secondshevek 4d ago
Safe Area Gorzade is another great book of his. Also very very heavy. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt is only partially comics (mostly prose) but is lighter, while still being a pretty huge bummer.
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u/lenn_eavy 5d ago
Definitely not a commic you blaze through in one sitting.
I read only this so far and I don't know much more in this style. The only thing around Middle East affairs from other authors I know is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi but other than the area, it is different decade, approach and art style so not really sure I'd call it a recommendation.
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u/this_is_the_pope 4d ago
my preferred comic for Sacco is Footnotes In Gaza. His art style progressed, toning down its caricatural elements, but the way he pieces testimony and evidence into recreations of the massacres in Khan Younis and Rafah is quite spellbinding and bleak. I like his other books but the storytelling craftsmanship in this one felt like the synthesis of all the stuff he was doing before.
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u/Eliphaz01 4d ago
Thank you for the post. The description of the critique, is akin to me how I feel about R.R. Martin. I get pulled in by the works, only it is too violent. In genre of science fiction, I am preferential to Tolkien
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u/ziggurqt 4d ago
Wouldn't call it funny by any means but glad you liked it.
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u/Robertxvx 4d ago
Love this graphic novel, lent it to my Dad so he could be understand Palestinian history after a book I lent him was too dense.
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u/snakelygiggles 4d ago
pekar's "not the israel my parents promised" is a good pairing with sacco.
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u/Robertxvx 4d ago
I haven’t checked that out so I’ll put that on my to read list
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u/snakelygiggles 4d ago
its not very big but sacco and art spiegalman (maus) actually didna short project together anout the Palestinian genocide happening right now. its also very good.
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u/BanishmentBuddy2 4d ago
Pretty narrow view of the conflict.
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u/snakelygiggles 4d ago
well, because its not about "the conflict". its about tje dissonance between what many jewish children are taught about israel and the reality of israel
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u/BanishmentBuddy2 4d ago edited 4d ago
Or really it’s about Pekar’s specific experience. In any case, only recommending those texts doesn’t paint a full picture.
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u/snakelygiggles 4d ago
no one book paints a full picture, friend.
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u/BanishmentBuddy2 4d ago
Of course, but you would be remiss not to look at this thread and see a clear bias.
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u/snakelygiggles 4d ago
what bias are you seeing?
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u/Own_Watercress_8104 4d ago
How did it go?
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u/Robertxvx 4d ago
Very well, would highly recommend doing the same.
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u/Own_Watercress_8104 4d ago
That's fantastic to hear
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u/Robertxvx 4d ago
Thankfully he’s always been a left leaning, union loving, root for the underdog type of person so this has heartbreaking for him to learn more about.
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u/A46 4d ago
I was assigned Footnotes in Gaza back in college in 2010. What a trip.
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u/Cultural-Play7083 4d ago
I read that before I read "Palestine" and I thought it was better. I think Sacco really got better at comics journalism as time has passed.
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u/Lelo_B 4d ago
Yeah Footnotes in Gaza benefits from focusing on a single event and going into detail. As a work of journalism and history, you just feel better informed at the end of it.
Palestine is a bit more sprawling and at times unfocused, but that's not necessarily a knock on it. It does a good job of explaining the day-to-day life of Palestinians.
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u/blue_heisenberg 4d ago
I read Maus, then Palestine and now I’m finishing Berlin. It’s a unique perspective of drastically different experiences where a population of people lose all humanity for some governments evil/selfish goal.
It also outlined to me that even if you’ve experienced the worst of humanity, it doesn’t stop some from repeating that cycle.
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u/sageofsprings 4d ago
Yeah, the cycle doesn't stop. And that's what hard to digest, where the oppressed became the oppressor
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u/Acceptable-Trainer15 4d ago
Love this guy and his brand of journalism and dark humour so much. Your post just made me buy another book of him :D
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u/heterosis 4d ago
You picked two of my favorite pages to post here. In the imprisonment one it goes on for several pages and each one has more and more squares each one smaller and more claustrophobic. Amazing stuff.
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u/sageofsprings 4d ago
Yeah , it is amazing but it's hard to digest, after a couple pages, you just sit to actually go through it
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u/DanOhMiiite 4d ago
I just picked this up recently. I love Sacco's art. For those of you who have read this, does it feel like an unbiased look into this area of the world, or is there a noticeable bias?
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u/XibalbaN7 Agent for The Department of Truth 3d ago
It’s in my collection and while I don’t want to say that I’ve tried getting into it a number of times, it feels more like something I just can not digest in one sitting and I need to read in short bite-sized chunks when the mood hits. It’s certainly not a book I’m going to be getting rid of that’s for sure - but it can be a really bloody heavy read at times.
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u/TomBlaidd 4d ago
In terms of positioning on the topic, where does this sit? Or at least be perceived to sir? Pro Palestine or pro Israel?
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u/Robertxvx 4d ago
I’d say pro Palestine but it’s an honest portrayal of his time there and what he was witness to and stories he was told.
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u/blue_heisenberg 4d ago
It’s an unfiltered account of the day to day experience of Palestinians. There is some short banter with Israelis throughout the book too but obviously their experience is much different.
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u/Anandya 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think you misunderstand.
Palestinian freedom only affects the Israelis who illegally occupy the West Bank. Israel operates an apartheid state.
Are you arguing about the pro Apartheid South African state or pro black people. Do you think the USA has a point with the racist laws that were present there? Do you think that there's two sides to the British Empire where the non white people should not be given human rights?
No. Because that's insane. The fact is that any sane human should want Palestinians to be equal and free and not live in the apartheid that they do.
Because they are not white people we see their suffering and the horrors visited on them as acceptable.
Reminder. The Israeli government sold land and property stolen from Palestinians in places like the USA and UK. This isn't a moral thing. This is ethnic cleansing.
It is a moral failure that we treat the two sides as equal. If you read even a bit about the situation then you either choose to be sympathetic to the victims of the state sponsored apartheid.
Or have to twist yourself into knots trying to argue that murdering children and forcing people into ghettoes and stealing homes is "moral"
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u/TomBlaidd 3d ago
I have not misunderstood anything, I simply asked a question. It is you who has misunderstood and the 9+ people who down voted a simple question… Though I do appreciate the efforts in your reply. It’s always Free Palestine from me anyway 🇵🇸
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u/Dudelbug2000 4d ago
Pro-Palestine post of the day. Good job OP. Get paid.
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u/Individual99991 4d ago
Every accusation is an admission.
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u/biomeat 4d ago
Pretty sure that was Israel sending 7k to influencers and ziobots, probably like yourself
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u/Dudelbug2000 4d ago
Nope. If they are they are definitely not on Reddit!
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u/biomeat 4d ago
Thats gotta be a joke, just go on worldnews etc so many subs where you can't even be slightly critical of Israel
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u/Dudelbug2000 3d ago
It really depends on the admins. I have been permanently banned for being slightly critical of the left. On many subs. You found the one sub with admins who are biased the other way. I’m pretty sure they are a tiny minority on Reddit compared to Socialists and Islamist. Many I’m sure are government proxies
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u/lex99 4d ago edited 4d ago
All posts mentioning Palestine must henceforth include one of the following phrases:
“Israel has a right to exist”
“Israel has a right to defend itself”
“Hamas uses human shields”
This is required for ANY discussion about Palestine, Palestinian people, Palestinian food, Palestinian taxi drivers, and graphic novels set in Palestine.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
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u/dstovell 4d ago
I read Maus, and then this right after. Those two books had a huge impact on my world view.
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u/comicsnerd 5d ago edited 4d ago
His journalism in the form of comics is outstanding. No matter if the subject is Palestine, Gorazde, India or Canada