Joe Sacco on Arabs, Jews and Comix

Greetings again, pals of Morphizm. I told you I would be busy this week. Here's another dose, an interview with comics journalist Joe Sacco about his classic graphic novel Palestine, Bush's reactivated road map for the region and why universities and J-schools are tagging his acclaimed comic for their courses. It's up on the LA Weekly now, and in print. Viva la whatever!

Joe Sacco on Comics, the Arabs and the Jews
[Scott Thill, LA Weekly]
Joe Sacco can give you a headache. A cartoonist who is more often recognized as a journalist, he straddles so many fences that he makes you realize that life really isn't simply a choice between black and white. Ironic, considering that his comics are mostly in black and white, and that he spent much of his early years after graduating with a journo degree from the University of Oregon in 1981 trying to find a job writing legit investigations about matters of consequence. That went nowhere, so he turned to comics, which took him seriously, and then took him where he was looking to go all the time.

It is that type of reversible flux that marks his compelling work, usually delivered from embattled regions like Sarajevo, Gorazde, and the mother of all geopolitical clusterfucks, the Palestinian territories. Or Palestine, as he calls it in his American Book Award-winning collection of the same name, now receiving the deluxe-reissue treatment from comics powerhouse Fantagraphics. He was overdue for an upgrade: Sacco has created panels on subjects as different as indie rock and war crimes for Harper's, The Guardian, Harvey Pekar's American Splendor and other publications. Plus, Palestine is his Great American Novel, and is making the rounds not just at comics houses, but at universities, J-schools and more... MORE @ LA WEEKLY