graphic novels with politics

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi and Maus by Art Spiegelman
I tried to do separate reviews of these two, but they have so much in common that they just sorta turned into one review. Persepolis is an autobiographical comic of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Satrapi has a strikingly clear, simple, drawing style that's extremely expressive, and the book is hella well written as well. Maus is the story of Spiegelman's father's experience of living through Nazi concentration camps during WWII, as well as the story of his difficult relationship with his dad. Both books tackle serious issues and traumatic incidents in a way that really brings them home. I think what makes them really hit you is that they include some humour and everyday details, which make their subject matter a lot more relateable. Anyone who hasn't lived under a fundamentalist regime (Persepolis) or been in a concentration camp (Maus) obviously cannot relate to these experiences on a gut level, but the details Spiegelman includes about his dad's fussiness and over the top thriftiness and that Satrapi includes about buying bootleg Iron Maiden tapes and having her mom knit her a sweater with holes in it when punk rock was popular really draw you in. I think of these everyday details as cracks in the overwhelming horror of both the situations that make you able to identify with a narrator you ostensibly don't have common ground with, and as ways to open yourself to relating to an experience that is not only too horrific to really comprehend, but that is too foreign to most folks' everyday reality to be understood. Anyway, good books that will really stick with you.


War in the Neighbourhood by Seth Tobocman
The story of the conflict between NYC officials and the LES squatters in the '80s. Tobocman has a really distinctive drawing style that you'll probably recognize from those "you don't have to fuck people over to survive" patches that I think every dirty punk rock kid has sported at some point. I like that Tobocman doesn't shy away from portraying conflicts within the groups of squatters, instead of demonizing the city and idealizing everyone fighting for their homes. There's no doubt who's in the right and who's in the wrong, but he still presents the kind of genuine, balanced image of what went on that makes the reader feel like they're getting the real story. Really amazing art and story.

The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo by Joe Sacco
Sacco reports on both the situation in Sarajevo and the experience of being a war correspondent. Specifically, he tells the story of Neven, a Serb with a Muslim mother who is an ex soldier, and is now trying to negotiate his way through the newly settling down climate as a "fixer," someone who finds stories for journalists. The author tries to negotiate his way through the challenges of Sarajevo, to understand the causes and costs of the Balkan conflict, and almost above all, to find his way through the myriad stories Neven tells him to find the truth of his life. Sacco's dark, crosshatched drawings give a sense of the claustrophobia of dark bars and hotel rooms he finds himself in, and his drawing style even gives large outdoor scenes a feeling of pressure and forboding in a really effective way. Also, this is silly, but I'm very inclined to view anyone who draws themselves as unflatteringly as he does a reliable narrator. A really good, affecting read.