In case you missed it the Comica site flags up a transcript of the interview Roger Sabin conducted with the brilliant Joe Sacco during 2009′s Comica events, just before Sacco’s new Footnotes In Gaza was due to come out from Cape (a highly recommended read); if, like me, you didn’t read it when it was first put up Comica points us to the Eye blog where you can read the entire thing:
“RS: So in terms of journalism, who were you reading; who was influential?
JS: The biggest inspiration is George Orwell, especially the book Road to Wigan Pier. That had a big impact on me – just because he actually stayed where miners stayed and went down to the pits and all that. That was very compelling. I love the idea of going to a place and sort of putting yourself into it. Later on, obviously, I got some influence from Hunter S. Thompson and also Michael Herr’s Dispatches. It’s a book about the Vietnam War. He was originally writing for Esquire. What I liked about that book is that it created an atmosphere. It wasn’t about event after event after event. He really gave me a sense of the feel of a place; the taste of it.
RS: So this was the New Journalism?
JS: I guess it’s New Journalism. I didn’t know what to call it at the time, when I was reading it. But it appealed to me.
RS: And part of that was about putting yourself in the story?
JS: That’s right.
RS: And questioning the idea of objectivity?
JS: Yes. I studied American-style journalism and at some point that began to break down for me. Because I feel that in the case of a lot of topics, you can’t be objective. For example, when American or British journalists go somewhere, they bring themselves with them, obviously, and they bring their culture with them. And that isn’t often reflected in their stories.
RS: In terms of comics, you’re picking up influences from Britain and from America?
JS: I’d say my major comic influences would be people like Robert Crumb. He interested me greatly, and you can see it in my work. Who else? Early Mad, when it was a comic book. That was frantic stuff, with all these things going on in the panels. You can feel the obsessive detail.“
Mon, Jan 11, 2010
Comics and cartoons, Interviews