The blessing of an inherently interpretive medium like comics is that it hasnt allowed me to . . . make a virtue of dispassion. For good or for ill the comics medium is adamant and it has forced me to make choices. In my view that is part of its message from the preface by Joe SaccoOver the past decade Joe Sacco has increasingly turned to shortform comics journalism to report from conflict zones around the world. Collected here for the first time Saccos darkly funny revealing reportage confirms his standing as one of the foremost international correspondents working today. Journalism takes readers from the smuggling tunnels of Gaza to war crimes trials in The Hague from the lives of Indias untouchables to the ordeal of subSaharan refugees washed up on the shores of Malta. Sacco also confronts the misery and absurdity of the war in Iraq including the darkest chapter in recent American history the torture of detainees.Vividly depicting Saccos own interactions with the people he meets the stories in this remarkable collection argue for the essential truth in comics reportage an inevitably subjective journalistic endeavour. Among Saccos most mature and accomplished work Journalism demonstrates the power of a great comics artist to chronicle lived experience with a force that often eludes other media.