A review by stephen_on_a_jet_plane
The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo by Joe Sacco

4.0

Graphic novels are expensive enough that they’re rarely worth the money-time-pleasure ratio compared to say, spending less than a graphic novels worth of money on say a months access to the entirety of a major studio’s back-catalogue in a streaming service. The same is particularly true of this ‘graphic novella’ which is shorter than one might hope for the £12.99 price tag ( I got lucky and found in a thrift store for the cost of a slightly overpriced americano) but this is a great shame, it’s a true-life documentation of a ‘fixer’ Neven based in Sarajevo who exchanges commission from journalists for local knowledge, guidance and a plethora of tales from his time in the army and the machinations, dealings and guerrilla forces he came across as a younger man.

Joe Sacco’s book is filled with darkness, tension and issues of trust all lavishly portrayed in his ugly, shadowey drawings. Nuggets of narrative lie hidden in layers of heresy and recollection, it seems history is about as trustworthy as the chain-smoking, charismatic guide Neven that joe met in Sarajevo.