The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo

AUTHOR: Sacco, Joe

ARTIST: Joe Sacco (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Drawn and Quarterly

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2003, 2005

Publication History

Joe Sacco went to Sarajevo in 1995 and 2001 (with help from a Guggenheim grant the second time) to do research for his Stories of Bosnia series with Drawn and Quarterly. To date, this series comprises The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo (2003) and War’s End: Profiles from Bosnia, 1995-1996 (2005), each published initially as separate books; they have been combined in the paperback The Fixer, and Other Stories (2009). Like Footnotes in Gaza (2009), also by Sacco, The Fixer incorporates into the story the process of doing research for the book. In it, the difficulty of relying on witnesses for accuracy, the recording of conversations, and the general business behind journalistic production are all prominently featured. In fact, this work goes further than others by Sacco in emphasizing that the process is unreliable by centering on one fascinating figure and by faithfully reporting that what he hears is at best prone to exaggeration or, at worst, to lying. The ambiguous quality of the narrative seems highly appropriate to the conditions in which Sacco researched his book: a city under siege in which multiple factions struggle and corruption is the norm.

Plot

Using his 2001 trip to Sarajevo as a framing device, Sacco flashes back to 1995 to tell his story about Neven (the fixer), who can procure, arrange, translate for, and guide touring journalists in Sarajevo. The reader is repeatedly asked to view situations from Neven’s perspective; Sacco details Neven’s experiences in a second-person narrative. Neven’s story is developed through a series of episodes that are framed by his narrative. In the episodes, Neven makes Sacco feel perpetually guilty or obligated, such as when Neven comically wrestles money from him with professional skill. The reader learns about Neven’s past association with one of Sarajevo’s paramilitary warlords, Ramiz Delalac, under whom a special wing of soldiers called the “Green Berets” was formed with support from the Stranka Demokratske Akcije (SDA, the Party of Democratic Action), the Muslim nationalist party. Something of a mercenary group, the SDA is suspicious of Neven’s loyalties, eventually asking him to leave the group. Ultimately, some of Neven’s stories are revealed to be tall tales, and Sacco comes to understand that his guide is not the most reliable narrator. Nonetheless, by the end of the story, Neven’s years of paramilitary service (or crimes) appear to be confirmed.

The Fixer relates the chaotic and desperate conditions of those living in Sarajevo during the siege, which took place from April 5, 1992, to February 25, 1996. The earliest images in the book focus on the abandonment of public spaces and the desperate attempts by the public to live life as usual. Eventually, though, Sacco shows the wealthy being harassed, people being brutalized and executed, rape being referred to as merely a sexual act, and desensitized soldiers looting and “living large.” Thus, the state of affairs is far from normal by nearly anyone’s standards.

Characters

•Joe Sacco, the author and narrator, has prominent round eyeglasses, which are used as a masking device that allows readers to see events from the author’s perspective. He is portrayed as a comically bumbling character, a humble exaggeration of Sacco himself.

•Neven, a.k.a. The Fixer, is the primary character and Sacco’s most important source for the material in the book. He was born to a Muslim mother and a Serbian father and is a former sniper for the Yugoslav People’s Army. He is active in informal gangs and paramilitary groups associated with the SDA. Though fighting alongside those with Muslim loyalties, as a Serb he is conflicted and insists that his “enemies” be referred to by the derogatory term “chetniks,” which allows him to dehumanize them and, thus, commit acts of violence against them. In the present tense of the book, he is working as a fixer for journalists and diplomats visiting Sarajevo.

•Ismet Bajramovic, a.k.a. Celo, is a charismatic leader of one of the Green Beret’s cells in Sarajevo. He did prison time for murder and has been involved with organized crime.

•Jusuf Prazina, a.k.a. Juka, is an egotistical thug and warlord. He is a “patriot” who views himself as the future salvation of Sarajevo.

•Vildania Selimbegovic is a writer for the reputable Dani magazine and an important and reliable source for Sacco.

•Musan Topalovic, a.k.a. Caco, is a folk musician before the Bosnian War. He becomes a criminal and warlord, leading a Green Beret unit called Bosna 10.

•Ramiz Delalic, a.k.a. Celo, is the central warlord in most of Neven’s war stories and the leader of his unit. He has a criminal background but manages to get more followers than the other warlords. Sacco consistently uses his last name to avoid confusion with Bajramovic, who is also nicknamed Celo.

•Jovan Divjak is a general in the Bosnian army during the siege of Sarajevo.

•Alija Izetbegovic is the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving from 1990 to 1996.

•Munir Alibabic is the chief of intelligence services in Sarajevo during the siege.

Artistic Style

Sacco has garnered much acclaim for his journalistic rigor and realism, as well as for his commitment to authenticity, immersing himself in the areas he researches. His excellent eye for character and ear for dialogue often go unmentioned, though. However, these are the qualities that make The Fixer a remarkable (if overlooked) text. In Neven, Sacco found not only someone with great war stories but also a soldier of fortune and con man who could provide the horrific, heroic, and humorous anecdotes that make for great war reporting and storytelling, the nuances of which Sacco captures so well. Using characters like Neven, for example, creates not only comic relief, making serious matters more palatable and accessible, but also human interest stories that work like war diaries, such as Zlata Filipovic’s Zlata’s Diary (1994), by enabling readers unfamiliar with life under occupation to comprehend the everyday trauma and oppression of such situations.

Two techniques that help Sacco achieve this effect are the use of second-person narration, which allows the reader to see from Neven’s perspective, and a masking effect, in which Sacco’s eyes are hidden behind blank glasses. The latter technique is used to reflect the general reader’s perspective. In the background, however, unpleasant details are unmasked. Considering that Sacco employs such a method, it is no surprise to discover that he admires the work of Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, whose work also documents peripheral or obscured everyday details. Shadows are meticulously crosshatched, and the black-and-white pen work seems appropriate to Sacco’s subject matter. Granting levity to heavy content, Sacco draws himself in caricature: His self-representation is consistently of a self-deprecating and Robert Crumb-influenced curmudgeonly fellow who is much more naïve than the actual author/artist. This depiction also helps readers to reflect on their own political privilege or complicity in world events. (Sacco has admitted to having an American audience, in particular, in mind for his work.)

Themes

The Fixer is unique among Sacco’s works in that it is as much, or more, a character study as it is an engrossing and realistic war comic. The story is Neven’s story. Most of the other players in the plot are revealed through Neven’s episodic narrations.

Sacco never really followed superhero comics, finding them too predictable, and The Fixer offers much evidence for why he did not. Not only is the title character an original antiheroic figure, but also the book provides a multilayered critique of the hypermasculine world of superhero comics. In an interview with Mark Binelli of Rolling Stone, Sacco commented, “I can’t tell if Neven is the baddest-ass in Bosnia or if he read the same comics as me.” The character of Neven allows Sacco to develop an ongoing critique of the treatment of war in the American media and in pop culture in particular.

At every turn, Neven reveals himself to be antiheroic. He tells quintessentially formulaic heroic war stories, but the motivations for his “actions,” as he calls the missions, are never altruistic or heroic. He is a soldier of fortune unable to recall why he chose to fight with Bosnian forces. Even his patriotism is available for purchase. His military skills were honed in gang warfare, on the streets, and in criminal acts—not out of some sense of honor or duty.

Set in sharp contrast to Neven are the iconic warlords of the text: Bajramovic, Prazina, Topalovic, and Delalic. Most of the warlords have their reputations bolstered with legends that inspired, though not usually for good reason, the support of fighting men. Bajramovic is famous for local stories, such as the one in which he pulls a gun on two men who are beating another at a café. Prazina has been seriously wounded in an early conflict and is known to beat followers severely with his crutch if they are insubordinate. Delalic is said to have been involved with the beginning of “enmity between Serbs and Muslims,” while Prazina claimed he would resolve the conflict single-handedly and on a snow-white steed. Topalovic refuses to adhere to the hierarchy among military and police, putting “himself further and further above the law.” Later, he is ousted and arrested in what is described as a “showdown” with Delalic. The language of spaghetti Westerns is used in the legends surrounding all four warlords, but the relatively formal accounts from reliable sources at the end of the book read more brutally.

One critic, Michel Faber of The Guardian, seems to peremptorily apologize in his review for all of Sacco’s macho-infused madness, claiming that female readers might feel alienated or disgusted. However, Sacco constantly re-centers each narrative neutrally. In contrast to Neven and the warlords, Sacco is free of pretense, is innocent, and is the perfect amoral but humanist cipher to convey such inhumane happenings. Some have even commented on the homoeroticism in the text. However, Sacco seems to be completely asexually innocent and the ideal reporter, bringing the reader the facts as transparently as possible. He acknowledges honestly any spin he provides, which is a common thread running through all of Sacco’s work.

Impact

Although Sacco has denied that he set out to form a new genre (he is not the first to write war comics, graphic nonfiction, or political cartoons), his critical success—which includes the 1996 National Book Award for Palestine, a 2001 Eisner Award for Safe Area Goražde, and 2010 Ridenhour Prize for Footnotes in Gaza—has allowed him to cross over to a wider audience than many similar publications have enjoyed. Both Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens have written his prefatory material. He has been called the “best” and even the “only” comics journalist. His primary influences also cross over genre and medium: George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, Michael Herr, and Hunter S. Thompson. Like the New Journalists, he utilizes the full expressive potential of reporting, but in addition, he is able to use his “hobby” of illustrating to create a subtler text, combining more comprehensive and simultaneously diverse perspectives. When he was younger, Sacco read war comics such as those produced under Harvey Kurtzman, and it is likely that his impact will be just as strong on future generations as Kurtzman’s was on him.

Further Reading

Delisle, Guy. Burma Chronicles (20).

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2009).

Guibert, Emmanuel. The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders (2010).

Kubert, Joe. Fax from Sarajevo (1998).

Sacco, Joe. Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-1995 (2011).

Bibliography

Binelli, Mark. “Joe Sacco’s Cartoon Violence.” Rolling Stone 940 (January 22, 2004): 40-41.

Bowe, Marisa. “No Laughing Matter: Marisa Bowe on Joe Sacco.” Bookforum (Summer, 2005): 26-57.

Hajdu, David. “Joe Sacco and Daniel Clowes.” In Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2009.

Venezia, Antonio. “New New (Graphic) Journalism.” Radical Philosophy 161 (May/June, 2010): 58-60.