Joe Sacco's Great War graphic tableau becomes giant Paris metro poster Joe Sacco's epic, 24-ft-long depiction of the first day of the battle of the Somme has been recreated on the wall of the Paris metro. Published last autumn, the acclaimed cartoonist's wordless panorama The Great War picked out the events of the first world war battle, which began 98 years ago on 1 July, from the British soldiers who went over the top, to the mass burials of the dead. It drew glowing reviews on publication. Steve Rose called it "a cross between Hergé and the Chapman brothers; the Bayeux Tapestry as a silent movie" in the Guardian. Sacco himself has said the work was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry. "It all started when I was playing darts with a friend of mine in New York," he told AFP. Now the comic is being shown in the Montparnasse metro station in Paris in a display which runs to 130 metres. He told Le Monde that the fresco was trying to show "the scale of what happened that day".
Joe Sacco (ice hockey) Joseph William Sacco (born February 4, 1969) is an American retired National Hockey League player and currently an assistant coach for the Boston Bruins.[1] His younger brother David Sacco also played in the NHL. Drafted in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sacco played for Boston University before joining the Leafs. Sacco also played for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, and Philadelphia Flyers. In 738 NHL games, he had 94 goals and 119 assists. In the 2005–06 season, two years into retirement from playing, Sacco was hired as an assistant coach for the Lowell Lock Monsters, affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. Following the 2012–13 season, his fourth year at the helm, finishing last in the Western Conference and out of the playoffs for a third consecutive year, Sacco was relieved of his duties on April 28, 2013.[5] It brought an end to his eight-year association with the Avalanche.[6] List of NHL head coaches
'A matter of justice': Joe Sacco on the Suez war, Gaza, and his future work A cell from Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza shows Sacco (left) interviewing one of his many subjects. From Palestine to Bosnia, journalist Joe Sacco has seen a lot. He’s also written a lot. And last but not least, he’s drawn a lot. Also remember, when you make a donation of $100 or more to Mondoweiss during our December Fundraising Drive you can receive a copy of Footnotes in Gaza (thanks for your support). I recently caught up with Sacco for a phone interview on Israel/Palestine, comic-style journalism, his future projects and more. Alex Kane: For Mondoweiss readers who may not know, tell me about yourself and your work. Joe Sacco (Photo: Richard Saker/Guardian) Joe Sacco: (Laughs) Well, I guess most of the work I’ve done over the last twenty or so years has been journalistic, and I’ve done work that relates to the Palestinians, I’ve done work that relates to the war in Bosnia, and I’ve done shorter pieces that have taken me, you know, to India, to southern Russia and other places.
Joe Sacco | interview In his books, Joe Sacco always draws himself the same way: neat and compact, a small bag slung across his body, a notebook invariably in his hand. At a single glance, the reader understands that he is both reporter and innocent abroad, an unlikely combination that propels him not only to ask difficult questions, but to go on asking them long after all the other hacks have given up and gone home. You sense in this black-and-white outline, too, a certain taut, physical alertness. Should there be trouble, he is, it seems, ready to run. The expression on his face, however, is more difficult to read. Sacco keeps his eyes permanently hidden behind the shine of his owlish spectacles; anyone wishing to gauge his deeper emotions must rely instead on his bottom lip. Is his eyelessness intended to send some kind of subtle message regarding the reliability of the reporter-narrator? Thanks to publishing hyperbole, writers often get called "unique". He shrugs. In 2003, he went back.
download Joe Sacco's 'The Great War' Is Powerful Evocation of an Awful, Awful Day “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” – Leon Trotsky Joe Sacco is a comics artist who doesn’t shy away from harsh realities; if anything, he seeks them out. The Great War continues the trends in Sacco’s past work while simultaneously usurping them. Except that Sacco being Sacco, there’s more to this project than a simple “war is hell” narrative. Sacco has chosen to represent this day in a single, accordion-style foldout. The accordion-foldout sounds like a gimmick, and maybe it is; but what the hell, it’s a great gimmick. With 24 panels to pore over, each packed with hundreds of figures and thousands of miniscule details, there is much to absorb. Singling out any one particular panel is something of a fool’s errand, akin to choosing a ten-second clip from a movie and saying: “This bit’s really good!” To the right of the trees, the last image in the book is that of the burial detail, men in overalls filling in the mass graves filled with British dead.
Journalism In his introduction to this collection of short-form comics journalism pieces, Joe Sacco undertakes a self-professed manifesto regarding the form. In particular, he takes aim at the sacred cows of U.S. journalism — “objectivity” and “balance” — and essentially skewers them as the empty concepts that they truly are. Sacco is careful to note that this doesn’t mean that doing research, getting quotes right, and thoroughly investigating claims made in the course of a story aren’t important. One of the reasons why so-called objectivity is perhaps less important for Sacco is that he’s not on a breakneck news-cycle. “Complacency Kills” is another slightly weak story, one that came when Sacco was embedded with a Marine unit. Much more interesting is “Down! Unsurprisingly, the three longest pieces are the best, giving Sacco room to talk to a lot of people and get a number of different viewpoints. “The Unwanted” is Sacco’s superb piece on the problems of immigration.
The Graphic Story of Joe Sacco’s Comics Journalism Utter the words ‘comic book’ to almost anyone and you can all but guarantee what connotations will surface; Marvel and DC, bright, gaudy colours, and in recent years, huge blockbuster superhero movies. It is unlikely that many will mention gritty investigative journalism probing questions of identity in the world’s most notorious conflict zones. This, however, is Joe Sacco’s area of expertise, and has been for over twenty years. For Sacco is widely considered to be the pioneer of an alternative type of graphic art, that of the unlikely, but successful, paring of conflict reportage and comics, or Comics Journalism to those in the know. Born in Malta in 1960, Sacco spent his childhood predominantly in Melbourne, Australia, where he moved, with his family, at the age of one. Uprooting again in 1972, this time to America, Sacco has spent the rest of his life living in and around Portland, earning a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon.
Excerpts from Joe Sacco's 'Palestine' - seattlepi.com EDITOR'S NOTE: This weekend, Seattle's Fantagraphics Books is celebrating the release of the collected "Palestine," Joe Sacco's remarkable comic book documenting that profoundly violent war zone after a visit there in 1991-92. Born in Malta, raised and based in Portland, Sacco has become one of the most well-respected comic book artists of his generation, winning all the big grants, and spoken of as a successor to Art Spiegelman. But in many ways Sacco is not a successor to anyone. In the case of "Palestine," one can't call him a "graphic novelist," because this is real reporting. He is an observer, a witness: He offers no solutions and no relief from the harsh world he is documenting. What follows are excerpts from the introduction to the collected "Palestine" written by Mideast scholar Edward Said ("Orientalism"). -- Emily White Arts and Entertainment editor Without any warning or preparation, about 10 years ago my young son brought home Joe Sacco's first comic book on Palestine.