July 4, 2004
MarkBernstein.org
 

The Fixer

The Fixer
Joe Sacco

(order)

(July 4, 2004)

A haunting comic that explores, and tries to explain, the disaster of Sarajevo. The book is at its best in one vast, wordless exterior spread of the Holiday Inn, battered and broken, amidst the rubble of war -- an image that is precisely real and, thanks to Beiruit, already an archetype. Elsewhere, Sacco's minor characters are sometimes drawn with less sympathy than seems quite right.

Are comics really the best medium for this story?