The Troubles of a Nation

In this week’s installment of Dr. Michael Hancock’s esteemed Reading Comics, we will jump into the rabbit hole of Joe Sacco’s Palestine, considered by author Daniel Worden (Book Here) to be the pioneer of a “new kind of journalism.”  The graphic journal chronicles the tale of one of the most confusing and deadly ongoing international conflicts. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman has commented on the pioneering nature of Palestine, saying: "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."

Unlike other works that tell stories about tragic world conflicts, like Spiegelman’s Maus, Palestine destroys both stereotypes and over-simplifications of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Unlike the animal based characters of Maus, Sacco’s caricatures are the polar opposite: they are real, rendered in all their humility, disgrace, and joy. Ultimately, Palestine is so remarkable because of the powerful stories Sacco so eloquently transcribes onto paper.

Sacco’s caricature-based art shows people and highly detailed backgrounds. We can see how Sacco uses this art medium to amplify the emotions of his characters when a man explains how grieving families had to bury their loved ones:

Source

The man in these panels is clearly going through a rough patch here — a shame for someone of his age. Such an emotional portrayal is something only comics are capable of, as the singular photographs found in photojournalistic works are only capable of capturing a single moment, a single emotion.

Sacco’s caricatures also highlight his own personal bias, since he comes from an outsider’s perspective. His art is doused in sprinkles of his own bias on the conflict because what he portrays and how he portrays it ultimately lies on him. That is why most of the characters are drawn in a grotesque manner. His outsider perspective can be found in his writing, as his American upbringing has clearly influenced his depiction of the conflict. Sacco even draws himself in the comic in an exaggerated caricature, like he is an outsider, possibly due to his idea of how Palestinians view people like Sacco. This shows how Sacco perceives himself in the situation, which could not be shown in just ordinary photojournalism. A comparison of how Sacoo looks in real life and and his comic is shown below:

However, despite Sacco’s bias, he acknowledges it very early on in the novel. On pages 6-8 he underlines and emphasizes “I” numerous times, indicating he understands how his American background may influence his recounting of his experiences in the Middle East. Sacco takes responsibility for his opinions and his take on the issue. Even if the information presented seems to be bias, it is still his opinion and he acknowledges that. Pretty respectable, right?

Ultimately, Sacco cannot imitate the realistic feel with comics journalism that is present in photojournalism. Sacco himself acknowledges that by making the art as abstract as he does and by recognizing and taking responsibility for his own bias. Photos and videos have the essence of objectivity, since they capture reality as it is within a time frame. As such, despite what Spiegelman says about how they can be manipulated, they naturally induce trustworthiness within readers and viewers due to their ability to provide an objective view. Sacco recognizes this, so he does not attempt to swindle readers by drawing realistically; instead, he draws twisted caricatures of both himself and the people he meets, inserting his subjective perception of the situation and allowing readers to view the situation from his own perspective.

-Mosope Kusoro, Tommy Nguyen, Connor Rhodes, Jesse Yan