The Once and Future Riot

In 2013, in Western Uttar Pradesh, India, two Hindu cousins killed a Muslim man, and an angry crowd killed them in retaliation. This is the conflict Sacco (Paying the Land) investigates in his meticulous and beautifully crafted account of religious and territorial strife. Massive riots ensue; every eruption is connected to a previous event, with Sacco tracing it all the way back to the 1947 partition. He talks to civic leaders and local journalists, as well as to ordinary Jats—a relatively well-off Hindu ethnic group—and Muslims, who are mostly poor. He often expresses cynicism about the stories he hears: “Individual recollections must give way to what can be asserted as the collective truth.” In the absence of meaningful intervention by the state, mob-rule rules, the poorest suffer the most, and women become “a battlefield.” Though the intricate narrative requires careful reading for the uninitiated (and arguably for those who are deeply entangled, as well), the comics format allows readers to slow down and consider each moment in Sacco’s muscular, finely detailed art. As the title implies, Sacco is not particularly hopeful about the future, and he proffers a convincing thesis about how politicians leverage violence to fan the flames of old conflicts that then beget new violence. Paying homage to the importance of seeking truth, however elusive, this timely work is as powerful as it is artful. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi, Inc. (Oct.)