Notes from a Defeatist Comic

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Before Joe Sacco crafted his two major works of cartoon journalism, Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde, he created a number of shorter pieces, ranging from one-page gags to 30-page graphic novelettes. This massive book finally collects the entirety of Sacco''s earlier journalistic and autobiographical work, plus a sizable serving of his satirical strips, many of them never before collected in book form. The centerpieces in Notes from a Defeatist are a triptych of war stories: When Good Bombs Happen to Bad People, a history of aerial bombing that specifically targets civilian populations; More Women, More Children, More Quickly, in which Sacco relates his mother''s harrowing experiences during World War II in Malta; and, most personally (and closest to Sacco''s later work), How I Loved the War, Sacco''s impassioned but sardonic reflection on the Gulf War, the surrounding propaganda and media circus, and his own ambivalent feelings as both a spectator and commentator: The book derives its title from this sequence, which has acquired a painful new relevance in the past half-year. Notes from a Defeatist also includes a roadie''s-eye view of an American punk band''s eventful European tour, a reminiscence of an awful season spent in his native Malta, and much more. Notes from a Defeatist is a fantastic primer to Sacco''s work.