Sacco Brings Forgotten War Alive in Comics
A review by Steve Duin
When Abed El-Aziz El-Rantisi sat quietly and listened to the memories of the massacre at Khan Younis, he could still hear the screaming and wailing over the body of his uncle. "I couldn't sleep for many months after that," El-Rantisi told Joe Sacco three years before the Hamas official was assassinated by an Israeli missile. "It left a wound in my heart that can never heal. "They planted hatred in our hearts." After spending three months examining the roots of that hatred, and more than six years getting his graphic thoughts in order, Sacco doubts that peace will break through the scorched earth of the Gaza Strip. "I hold out less hope now than ever," the Portland cartoonist said. Yet as you quietly make your way through Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel, and the murderous echoes of the Israeli purges at Khan Younis and Rafah, what hope and optimism remains for journalism and comics. Sacco first became curious about the extraordinary events of November 1956...
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Previously Reviewed by The Oregonian
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