Joe Sacco’s Riot Book Sparks Publishing Controversy

We live in a world where information is supposedly everywhere. Every opinion has a platform. Every news story has a dozen takes. Yet for some reason, governments around the world still seem unusually nervous about cartoonists.

It is almost funny when you think about it. Politicians can ignore thousands of newspaper articles, endless TV commentary, and countless social media posts. But put those same ideas into panels, speech balloons, and illustrations, and suddenly people start paying attention. Maybe that is because comics have a way of cutting through the noise. A powerful image can sometimes say more than a thousand carefully crafted editorials.

That is why the controversy surrounding graphic journalist Joe Sacco’s latest book, The Once and Future Riot, deserves attention.

According to reporting by Shahana Yasmin for The Independent, Penguin Random House India has demanded significant changes before it will publish Sacco’s graphic nonfiction examination of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. The violence in Uttar Pradesh left more than 60 people dead and displaced roughly 40,000 people, most of them Muslims, during the politically charged period leading up to the rise of Narendra Modi and the BJP government.

The book itself sounds like classic Joe Sacco. Described as a revelatory investigation into sectarian violence, The Once and Future Riot examines not just what happened during the riots but why such violence happens in the first place. Sacco digs into the mechanics of political violence, the power of competing narratives, and the ways communities can be manipulated into turning against one another.

Compared to some of India’s other episodes of communal violence, the Muzaffarnagar riots were relatively small in scale. Yet Sacco uses the event as a lens through which to examine larger questions about democracy, power, identity, and the stories people tell themselves to justify terrible actions.

As always, Sacco does not approach the subject from a distance. He immerses himself in the communities he is covering. He speaks with government officials, political leaders, village chiefs, and most importantly, the victims themselves. His work has always stood apart because he refuses to pretend that journalism is some perfectly objective exercise. Readers see him asking questions, doubting answers, and struggling to piece together contradictory accounts. He puts himself on the page, making the reporting process part of the story.

That approach is exactly what has made Sacco one of the most important voices in comics journalism. Hailed as the heir to underground legend R. Crumb and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman, Sacco has spent decades documenting conflicts and crises around the world, from Palestine to the trenches of the First World War. His work reminds us that comics are not just entertainment. They can be journalism, history, and social commentary all at once.

According to Sacco, the problems began when Penguin Random House India presented him with a five-page list of requested changes. Some involved legal concerns, including questions about consent and likeness rights. Those are not unusual issues for a publisher to raise.

Other requests, however, seemed to move into editorial territory. Sacco says he was asked to remove quotes involving public figures, alter statements made by interview subjects, and even make changes to page layouts and captions. From his perspective, the requests looked less like fact-checking and more like an attempt to soften politically sensitive material.

The publisher sees it differently. Penguin Random House India says the concerns emerged during a routine legal review. Chief executive Gaurav Shrinagesh cited issues, including an allegedly inaccurate map of India and requests for citations and clarifications that the publisher felt had not been adequately addressed.

Whatever the motivation, the dispute highlights something larger than a disagreement over one book.

Graphic journalism occupies a unique place in modern storytelling. Unlike traditional reporting, it combines observation, personal experience, illustration, and narrative into something that feels immediate and deeply human. Readers do not just consume information. They experience it.

As Ita Mehrotra argued in The Indian Express, that is exactly what makes comics journalism so valuable. It places the journalist inside the conversation rather than above it. It acknowledges uncertainty. It embraces complexity. It shows readers that reporting is often less about finding simple answers and more about navigating messy and conflicting truths.

That is why books like The Once and Future Riot matter.

Graphic journalism proves that comics can be much more than superheroes, nostalgia, or the latest mythological retelling crowding bookstore shelves. They can investigate power, preserve testimony, document injustice, and challenge official narratives in ways few other media can.

If Indian readers are ultimately denied access to Sacco’s work, the loss goes beyond a single publication. It sends a message about which stories are considered acceptable and which are not. More importantly, it deprives aspiring cartoonists and journalists of a masterclass in what comics can accomplish when they are used to engage with the real world.

Without books like this, what fills the gap? Another endless parade of fantasy worlds and recycled myths? Or stories that challenge readers to confront reality?

Personally, I know which one I would rather see on bookstore shelves.