Joe Sacco

Joe Sacco is a Maltese-American graphics novel journalist. His award-winning work has made huge strides in legitimizing the graphic novel medium as serious art. Sacco depicts himself in Palestine, which is based on his own journey to the state in the early nineties. Sacco portrays himself with an unflattering look; his self-portrait has a hawk nose, pouty lips, and a general wimpy demeanor. His self-caricature captures how he feels entering the Middle East; he feels like a fish out of water whose coddled first-world upbringing has not prepared him for the difficulties of Palestine. His bravery and fearlessness undermine this portrayal; there is very little Sacco is unwilling to do for the best possible coverage.

Sacco brings a sense of realism and objectivity to both the typical Israel-Palestine narrative and the typical comic book narrative. With so much written about Palestine and so little change affected...