safe area gorazde

safe area gorazde, by joe sacco

i guess you could say that the genre of 'graphic novel' is still young enough that certain artist/writers dominate the sub-catagories of the genre, and that new sub-catagories are still being invented. joe sacco is THE man when it comes to comic book journalism.

sacco goes to various hotspots and gets up close to the human side of the conflict. he collects stories and turns them into comic book form. having a comic of real human suffering probably seems inappropriate at face-value, but sacco is a master of it, bringing humour, humanity and realism to the stories he covers.

i had already read his other book 'palestine' and comparing the two, i have to say i 'enjoyed' this book better. enjoyment is definitely a relative concept at times - the book brings another meaning to the term 'graphic' novel, but the violence in this book isn't gratuitous - it is merely an accurate rendering of the true scene.

highly recommended.

on the headphones: 'hora' by oi va voi, from the album 'laughter through tears'. http://www.oi-va-voi.com/