Yet More Rapid Reviews

Still haven't reviewed last week's comics, but I'm getting through the pile of library books I had checked out:

Road To Perdition by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. Lone Wolf and Cub set in the Gangster Era. The author even acknowledges the source for some of the inspiration in the introduction to this book. It's solid. Nice art, compelling story. The pacing is excellent, and the way it ends is heartbreaking in many ways. I think my biggest problem with the book is that I don't know just how much is actually "true"... since the historical and the fictional have been blended so well. Well worth a look. I may even have to see the movie someday.

Palestine by Joe Sacco. Another uncomfortable look at people living in unimaginable conditions. As with Safe Area Gorazde, Sacco simply wants to tell the stories that the people tell him. He doesn't judge them, just reports what he's seen. And the result is that you feel deeply their pain, and wonder just how the heck this situation is supposed to be resolved. The book is about the Palestinians, and so tends to favor their side of the story over the Israeli side. I would guess that extremely pro-Israeli readers might find this book impossible to read or believe. I tend to believe it after reading other Sacco books... but as Sacco himself points out, this is hardly the entire story. I came away from this book with a sense of frustration, at the situation portrayed in the book and the leadership on both sides of the conflict that perpetuate the horror and pain. This book offers no solutions nor places any real blame, but it does give you a glimpse into lives that you cannot see any other way.