Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco by Nina Mickwitz
Sacco’s own closely cropped profile can be seen in the far left of the first panel, at an angle turned towards his interviewee, enabling the reader to ‘see over his shoulder’ in the way often used in TV interviews. The topic of the interview (that of Khaled having executed Palestinian collaborators in his younger days) is not depicted in a separate panel but rather flows on, to the right of Khaled. A compositional vector runs from Sacco’s mouth, accentuated by the initial speech bubble to Khaled’s eyes and then in the opposite direction by the arm, hand and gun of the hooded executioner. This diagonal can be seen as stretching from the point where the hood breaks the panel’s edge to the lower right-hand side of the panel, where again his victim’s shirt-collar and shoulder extend beyond the panel’s edge. The background changes from white, through a gradually denser cross-hatching to complete black on the right hand side of the panel; differentiating between the two situations in time and in mood, and adding to the overall dramatic tension. In panel two the pointed gun creates a distinct right to left direction, but the angle of the roof of the truck with the soldiers mirrors it on the left side of the panel. This shape in turn mirrors the compositional lines in the first panel, while the lines articulating the shadow of the truck on the road and the curb echo it. In the third panel the machine guns being pointed create a vector from left to right. This left to right movement is mirrored again in the last panel, by the positioning of the characters; further
Sacco, J. (2009) Footnotes in Gaza (London: Jonathan Cape, 50-1) [Image annotated by author]
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away and smaller in the left hand corner, with the children’s faces near the bottom edge, Khaled in the centre and his mother’s face (which in close-up matches the size and distress of the face in the
he first half of this double page spread consists of two large close-up portraits; first the face of the old fighter who has been the topic of the previous chapter. Beneath him we see the face of
Khaled, who is on the run from the Israeli army at the time of telling, framed equally tightly.
first panel) on the far right side. Khaled’s arm is held vertical as he fires his gun in a gesture of defiance (exceeding the panel’s edge again) and this symbolism reverberates in the synecdoche of the cross-panel constellation of Khaled
The chapter title ‘The Wanted’ in conjunction with the two men’s faces connotes posters of out-
and the two soldiers. The serial overlapping of each panel across the frame of the preceding panel
laws or law-enforcement image banks, however the visual qualities of the image counteracts this
further works to create a kind of interlinking or weaving. Following Groensteen’s (2007) terminol-
association. There are clear similarities in the depiction of these two individuals; the lined foreheads,
ogy this would however be part of the restricted arthrology rather than tressage. This compositional
determined expressions on chiselled (to the point of gauntness) features and an unflinching gaze, the
dynamic can simultaneously be read in terms of the self-perpetuating nature of violence and brutality.
younger man looking perhaps more acutely tired. The dark shadow running down the middle of the page creates a vertical line connecting the two men’s faces even closer, visually and metaphorically. In combination with the interwoven panels opposite this page further seems to underscore visu-
references
ally (as the text narrative reinforces) that this conflict spans generations. Added to this one might speculate on the closely framed faces, which (were they photographs would not just recall, but be
Groensteen, T. (2007) The System of Comics (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi)
mug-shots) by their proportionally large scale become something more akin to intimate portraits –encouraging identification rather than objectification. Page 51 has four horizontal panels of equal size and proportions; thus dividing the page into four
Miller, A. (2007) Reading Bandes Dessinée: Critical Approaches to French-language Comic Strip (Bristol and Chicago: Intellect Press)
strips. The récitatifs (Miller, 2007: 97) placed at angles within the picture plane visually indicate a more integrated and involved narration than the conventional placing along the panel edge.
The Comics Grid. Year One. 2011–2012
Sacco, J. (2009) Footnotes in Gaza (London: Jonathan Cape)
The Comics Grid. Year One. 2011–2012
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