TEHRAN- Imagine the sharp scratch of pen on paper, sketching scenes of war, displacement, and resilience. The panels come alive, telling stories too raw for photographs and too complex for a headline. This is the world of Joe Sacco, a pioneer who turned the ink-stained pages of comics into a medium for journalism as vivid as it is visceral: Comics Journalism.

For decades, Sacco has redefined what journalism can be, using the medium of comics to plunge readers into the lived realities of those caught in warzones. From the Israeli crimes in "Palestine" (1996) and "Footnotes in Gaza" (2009) to the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in "Safe Area Goražde" (2000) and "The Fixer" (2003), Sacco’s work has consistently paired meticulous research with gut-wrenching art. His unique style not only documents events but humanizes them, placing individual voices at the forefront of historical and political turmoil.

Sacco's illustrations, which place the audience directly and objectively within the depicted conditions, challenge the world's perception of events in Palestine and the crimes of Israel. As the audience turns each page of Sacco's comics, they accompany him on a journey in search of the truth, uncovering the dystopia of the occupied territories that biased media often avoid revealing.

Bombs and diplomatic cover

After years, Sacco takes up his pen again, this time to address Israel's bloody genocide in Gaza. Titled “The War on Gaza,” this series has been published in installments on The Comics Journal’s website (TCJ.com), with the print version released by Fantagraphics on December 17.

In an interview with the Tehran Times, Sacco explained why he created the comic, saying that he was shocked by the events of October 7 and then even more shocked by Israel’s ruthless attack on Gaza, which right from the start seemed to be going to a very dark place.

“I knew I had to respond, but I was still unable to gather my thoughts properly.  It was the plea from a friend in Khan Younis who endured the relentless bombing that finally pushed me to put pen to paper. He told me, ‘Please lift up your voice,’” he added.

The comic journalist stated that he prefers to report — going to a place, interviewing people, and letting them speak for themselves—but there was no chance to do that in this case, and there still isn’t.

Sacco mentioned that since he lives in America, its role in the destruction of Gaza became his focus in "War on Gaza". “Clearly, the United States is actively participating in this genocide.  It is providing the bombs and diplomatic cover for Israel’s actions.”

Born in Malta in 1960 to an engineer father and a teacher mother, Joe Sacco spent part of his childhood in Australia before moving with his family to the United States at the age of 12. While living in Berlin in the early 1990s, curiosity and a feeling that he was not hearing the whole story— “American coverage of the Middle East is very shallow”—propelled him to Gaza.

Self-defense, of the genocidal kind

On a page from "War on Gaza", Sacco writes about the brutal crimes of the Zionist regime: “Is it genocide, or is it self-defense? Let’s make everyone happy and say it is both. In that case, we’ll need new terminology. I propose ‘genocidal self-defense.’”

Explaining the use of this new term, he told the Tehran Times that we have to interrogate what the words ‘self-defense’ means. “Are they carte blanche for any response, one without limits, including genocide? This seems to be what Israel means by ‘self-defense.’  Does ‘self-defense’ absolve a nation or group of compliance with hard-won international laws or basic decency?  I don’t think so.”

The American-Maltese journalist stated that he would like the audience of "War on Gaza" to be aware that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

“I would like people to understand that killing tens of thousands of people, destroying universities and hospitals, targeting journalists and aid workers, blowing up entire neighborhoods, ruining agricultural land, forcing people to move from one location to another and attacking them anyway — that these things are intended to make life in Gaza impossible. And that much of the Western world is complicit and is even participating in these crimes.”

"Palestine", the first journey to find the truth

The pioneer of comics journalism noted the impact of this medium, which combines journalism and comic books, that like all the visual media, comics has the ability to immediately make an impression, within seconds. “I use comics in a journalistic sense to take the reader to the places I have been and to meet the people I have met.  If I do my research well, I can also take the reader into the past, into historical events.”

In 1992, Sacco published his report of this trip in a nine-issue graphic novel "Palestine". The book, which was the result of interviews with Palestinians and the occupiers and narrated the history of the expulsion of the Palestinians and the beginning of the intifada, was able to win the 1996 American Book Award and was highly praised.

For this early work, Sacco spent two months in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Occupied territories between 1991 and 1992, during the first Intifada.

Travelling from taxi to taxi and camp to camp, Sacco — who holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon — collected the voices of the people, incorporating them with notes on the region's history and his reflections.

Gary Groth, co-founder of Fantagraphics, which published the graphic novel, told the Guardian that after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent bombing of Gaza demand for the book had soared.

Negative feedback from Zionists

Following "Palestine", Sacco traveled to Bosnia to document the truth of the Bosnian war, resulting in the creation of two novels, "Safe Area Goražde" and "The Fixer." "Safe Area Goražde" focuses on Goražde, which is a Bosnian Muslim area.

The journalist then returned to Palestine to cover the story of Rafah and Khan Yunis massacre by Israel in 1956 in 400-page "Footnotes in Gaza". 

After the publication of "Footnotes in Gaza", the Israeli newspaper Haaretz accused Sacco of distortion, bias and hyperbole. In a report from this newspaper, leading Israeli military historian Meir Pail stated, “It's a big exaggeration. There was never a killing of such a degree. Nobody was murdered. I was there. I don't know of any massacre.”

In response to the Tehran Times, Sacco shared his opinion on the negative feedback from Zionists, explaining that because he does not have a large social media presence, he is not very aware of it.

“Also, I am very clear in my own mind that this is a genocide, so it really does not matter what negative feedback I might get,” the journalist added referring to "War on Gaza".

Warmly welcoming Palestinians

In his stories, Sacco appears in a caricatured form, wearing a cable-knit jumper and round glasses (which stand in for his eyes). He even depicted the hospitality of the Palestinian people in his graphic novels.

The comic journalist explained what he remembers the most is the hospitality of the Palestinian people. “They always welcomed me even when they questioned whether talking to me would do them any good at all.”

Sacco stated that Palestinians have almost always expressed their appreciation for his work.  “They have never made me feel that it was inappropriate for a white Westerner to write and draw about their lives and struggle.”

Joe Sacco’s "War on Gaza" stands as a powerful testament to the ability of art to confront uncomfortable truths and give voice to the silenced. Through his masterful storytelling and evocative illustrations, Sacco not only documents the devastating realities of Gaza and Zionist regime’s crimes but also challenges global complicity and the narratives perpetuated by biased media.

As with his previous works on Palestine, Bosnia, and other war-torn regions, Sacco’s latest comic journal transcends the boundaries of traditional journalism, urging readers to take a deeper look at the truth of the Zionist regime's genocide in Gaza and the United States' contributions to this horrific crime.

Sacco writes, intelligently and sarcastically, about the repetitive conclusion of such Western crimes at the end of his graphic novel: “We know how this ends: The war-mongers will recast themselves as peacemakers and humbly nominate themselves to the Nobel committee for its prize.”

AH/SAB