This collection of Joe Sacco's earlier work shows how far he has come since then. Before he became a journalist, he was a cartoonist who thought himself a satirist. But his satire was too strident, his humour too forced. He used too many expletives to cover up the lack of real content. His lettering was twisted and came at you from all angles. It was hard to read, and not worth it when you did. There's a song by Regurgitator called 'I like your old stuff better than your new stuff'. But for me, Joe Sacco's later 'journalistic' works show his true artistic voice; these stories here are mostly self-indulgent cartoonist bitterness. However, it is interesting near the end of the book to note Sacco's growing interest in wartime reporting and nonfictional accounts of attacks on civilians, particularly in 'When Good Bombs Happen to Bad People' and (my favourite of the whole book) 'More Women, More Children, More Quickly', his biographical sketch of his mother's wartime childhood in Malta. Joe Sacco, I like your new stuff better than your old stuff. ( )

Collects Sacco's work done 1984 through 1991 that has been previously published in various ways. Shows the progression in drawing style and writing that have led to his famous and admired political analyses on Palestine and Gorazde. Exaggerated overall approach, but a clinical eye for detailed observation, marks the stories and the biographical narrative pointing to the method used later for his more profound investigation of contemporary issues.

Sacco writes in an introduction to this book that he ignores why a title such as Notes From a Defeatist was chosen for it. He cracks jokes about how (in 2002) he lives in Paris, has loads of money coming from his royalties and has joined a few French sex clubs... not exactly the attitude that one would expect from the characterization.

Early Sacco has a penchant for crowded, gross situations which are, indeed, caricatures of the time. Many of them hurt for they shake out violently any complacency. But Sacco is a master of graphic rendition and storytelling; the reader is rewarded in the end with a franck, fresh presentation of our worries, contradictions and inadequacies. Certainly a must for all Sacco admirers. ( )

Van Sacco heb ik eerder gelezen zijn meesterwerken over het conflict tussen Israel en de Palestijnen (Palestine ***** en Footnotes from Gaza *****) en de oorlog in Bosnië (Safe area Gorazde ***** en The fixer *****). De bundel "Notes from a defeatist" bevat een aantal strips die Joe Sacco eerder getekend en gedeeltelijk gepubliceerd heeft. Deze strips zijn bij lange na niet zo goed als zijn latere werk, maar hier en daar zie je al dat hij erg getalenteerd is. ( )

Some of this is awful. We can see the evolution of a writer. Once he moves away from himself, away from trying to be funny, becomes a journalist, he makes his masterpieces. ( )

Recopilatorio de diversos trabajos de Sacco previos al éxito que obtuvo con 'Palestina'.

Los hay mejores y peores, pero algunos son simplemente extraordinarios.

Imprescindible para fans de Sacco. Para los que no lo sean ya no tanto. O sí. Qué sé yo... :) ( )