Hello Everyone!

Most recently in class, we’ve been reading Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco. This graphic novel tells Sacco’s story as a journalist in Gorazde during the Bosnian War. Sacco’s art style is very different than the art style used in Persepolis, the first book we read for this class. Persepolis uses a much more minimalist style, while Safe Area Gorazde uses a much more detailed art style. This style allows for much more information to be transmitted through the images, and adds a completely different tone to the characters and story.

Firstly, it’s in the eyes. Eyes have been called “the gateway to the soul” and in Sacco’s illustrations, all characters except for himself have eyes. Sacco wears large, round, opaque glasses that cover his eyes. He’s one of the few characters in the that wears glasses, but the other ones that do you can see their eyes through the lenses. I liked Sacco’s choice to do this, it helped establish Sacco as a narrator, but not really a character in the story. He’s constantly surrounded by others who have these very detailed and expressive faces, the people this book is really about. I believe that Sacco drawing himself without eye shows the audience that while Sacco is the one telling us everything, he’s really just there to help relay information.

An interesting thing I noticed was how the book opened and closed with the same images, the only difference being which way the trucks were facing. The first page shows us a convoy headed down the Blue Road, surrounded by rubble and the remains of buildings. The last page shows a convoy in the same spot, with the trucks headed towards us. I really liked this visual aspect, the repition of the imagery helped close out the book.

I really enjoyed reading Safe Area Gorazde, I liked its depiction of the Bosnian War (a war I had not previously heard much about) and really liked the art style. Sacco’s choice to draw himself without eyes separates his character from the rest of the people, and ultimately makes the book focus more on the other characters and makes Sacco the narrator.