Bumf Vol. 1 [Paperback]

In the vein of the old underground comix like&&&The bastard child of Hogarth and Robert Crumb, measured it most certainly is not. Scabrous and bitingly satirical, its pages swiftly reduce western foreign policy over the past century to a series of ineffably stupid and calamitously prideful war games, and the US presidency to an airless void of buffoonery and corruption&.&Here, [Sacco] takes this underground sensibility, inspired by books likeThe spirit ofSaccos return to satire after years of steely-eye reportage has been informed by his journey as a journalist, resulting in a brutally acidic, profane, and stunning assault on American politics, exceptionalism, and overall image. Sacco takes as much time taking shots at himself as a reporter and cartoonist as he does in conflating Richard Nixon with Barack Obama in a surreal, grim, but still funny evisceration.Knowing where Sacco has been, knowing what hes seen and drawn humans do to each other, and having seen him talk about his experiences in conflict areas when he was at Erlangen this June, makes this furious indictment of the United Statess human-rights violations infinitely more terrifying and disturbing. This is satire all right, but not the funny kind. Its ugly, its haunting and its going to send chills down your spine.Its a cracking, wonderfully sick slice of satire, the sort of satire that has a ragged edge to it to leave an open, oozing wound afterwards, not a clean slice or cut, and even when some scenes make you laugh youll also feel guilty and uncomfortable because of what else is going on. And you should. An unusual, funny (filthy too) and darkly satirical work from one of our most acclaimed comics creators, prodding the dark underbelly of Western foreign policy to see what comes out.This is a collection of all-new satirical short comics by Joe Sacco (