Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert, Joe Kubert (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

In 1945, we told the world, "Never again." In 1992, the promise was broken into bloody shards. That was the year the war broke out in Sarajevo, Bosnia, the year that genocide revisited the planet. It was the year that Ervin Rustemagic - an international businessman whose clients included author Joe Kubert - found himself and his family trapped in a city under siege. Ervin's only means of communication to the outside world was via his fax machine. As Joe began to receive these messages from Ervin, he did what he had done for years - he put the story to paper. Renowned comics creator Joe Kubert has been writing and illustrating comic books since the 1940s, including Batman, Superman, Tarzan, Enemy Ace, and Sgt. Rock. Fax from Sarajevo is by far one of the highest achievements of one of comics' greatest living masters.

Publishers Weekly

In March 1992 Ervin Rustemagic, a well-regarded European comics agent, faxed a message from his Dutch office to the New Jersey home of his American friend and client, distinguished comics artist Kubert (Sgt. Rock; The Green Berets), detailing his plans to return to his home in the Sarajevo suburb of Dobrinja. Once back, relentless Serb bombardment trapped Rustemagic and his family, destroying their home and possessions. The family took shelter in a ruined building. For the next two and a half years Rustemagic communicated with Kubert and supporters in Europe via sporadically functioning fax machines, recounting the city's destruction, the Serb brutality inadequate multinational peacekeeping force and the physical and spiritual deprivations of life in a war zone. Kubert has used Rustemagic's faxed messages to recreate the family's experiencesa heartstopping nighttime dash across Sarajevo airport under fire; the deadly gauntlet of Serb snipers on the route between Dobrinja and Sarajevoin a black-and-white, book-length comics work that brilliantly documents a family's wartime survival and escape against unbelievable odds. Kubert's mainstream comics narrative style can at times be heavyhanded, but his signature graphic stylebrisk, precisely rendered, emotionally charged linework in dramatically composed panelsmarks him as one of mainstream comics' most talented and celebrated interpreters of the horrors of war. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

YATold through a combination of comic-book graphics and copies of the faxed communications sent back and forth between Sarajevo and the outside world, this dramatic account tells how the Rustemagic family survives the deadly siege of their homeland. The graphic novel format is ideally suited to bring the events to life in a compelling way. This portion of the book is followed by a condensed version of each chapter with photos of the actual people and places depicted in the narrative. The package was put together by Rustemagic's American friend and fellow comic artist, Joe Kubert. This is an important offering that will be read by graphic novel enthusiasts, as well as by students doing reports on these horrifying events.Betsy Levine, San Francisco Public Library

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