Comix Politix: Finally a Dependable Media Source
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by Lee Gordon
More than a decade after the discontinuation of Kurtzman’s groundbreaking work, a new form of comic began with the underground comics movement. These “comix”, as they were (and are) affectionately called to separate them from the mainstream form, dealt with the more adult world of politics, sex, drugs and rock and roll. It was no surprise that Harvey Kurtzman helped many of these new brash cartoonists get their start.
One very important member of this movement is Art Spiegelman. He is widely known for his Pulitzer Prize winning works, Maus and Maus II as they are part of many high school, college, and graduate course reading lists. In the Maus series Spiegelman meticulously documents the struggles of his parents during Fascist Europe through the stories of his father. The stories are unsentimental yet horribly realistic.
More recently, Spiegelman has been publishing a work titled, “In The Shadow of No Towers.” This work deals with 
the American psyche post 9/11. His images include depictions of people in front of televisions growing more and more distraught as they watch world events unfold. The title alone describes so much. We are, as Americans, very much under the shadow of two towers that no longer exist. But despite his role at the New Yorker, the popular magazine refused to publish this strip. Spiegelman decided to leave The New Yorker in protest of what he calls, “the widespread conformism of the mass media in the bush era.”
Another leader, and perhaps the most proliferate in the arena of comics journalism, is Joe Sacco. Maltese born Sacco has developed a style of comix that uses journalistic style and objective documentation to illuminate some of the most perplexing problems of the past 20 years. His first book of this genre, Palestine, tells the story of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians from the not often heard Palestinian side. This was his first comics journalism piece.
Over the following years, he wrote a series of graphic novels documenting the civil wars in and around Bosnia during the 90’s. Sacco’s journalistic style is unlike any other in that he befriends members of the community he is documenting and illustrates their stories.
This is quite a contrast to the mass media’s “get in, get out” form of journalism. This give Sacco’s characters the advantage of being deeply personal and human, a staunch contrast to the mass media’s generalized and stereotyped portrayal of the Palestinian and Bosnian people.
I think political comics and comics journalism are possibly the most important texts of the 20th century. Spiegelman himself stated, people do not think in terms of the large blocks of text one finds in most books of literature. The human mind is more geared toward short, concise lines of thought 
accompanied by an iconic image. Simply put, comics are more accessible. I certainly would never have tackled the subject of the Palestinian problem without Sacco’s style to ease me into it.
Comics require a deeper analysis of a problem. Drawing one page of a graphic novel sometimes takes an entire day of work. This requires the artist, and his reader for that matter, to have a deeper understanding of the subjects. Instead of the story teller's fingers flying across the keys, a cartoonist must draw every line, every wrinkle, and every facial expression as part of writing their story.
However, I think the most important aspect of comix is that they are not subject to “the widespread conformism.” Sacco and Spiegelman’s works will be read whether The New Yorker publishes them or not. Moreover these works will be published without the editing scythe that cuts so much truth from mass forms of journalism.
But don’t take my word for it. If you want a dependable and honest form of media, go to your local comic book store and pick up a copy for yourself.
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Young People Changing the World
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