Dan Goldman co-authored Everyman: Be The People, an illustrated satire of George W. Bush’s presidency and the theft of the American dream. Goldman isn’t noted for pulling punches either.
Together, Lappe and Goldman have created a brand new graphic novel called Shooting War. The book is about a young, independent newsblogger (someone who has independent access to the Internet and specializes in covering breaking stories – which isn’t too far removed from what’s actually taking place on the Internet these days).
Set in 2011, Jimmy Burns is a sympathetic character still wrapped in innocence when he first appears on the pages. The opening scene reveals him on the front line in the Iraq warzone. We don’t yet know why he’s there. The story cuts immediately to a time two months ago when Jimmy has his brand-new satellite-feed camera that allows him to upload to the Internet in real-time (which is a really scary thought if you think about it, and that technology is not that far off when everyone is going to Wi-Fi. This look at emerging technology is one of the things I liked about the book, and that wasn’t even a primary focus.)
Almost immediately, the action breaks loose as the Starbucks coffee shop beneath Jimmy’s apartment blows up. The art is amazing. It’s a blend of traditional comic art as well as mixed media involving photographs with computer-generated images cast over them. The visualization of the scenes lends itself to screenplay style format. (And I’ll be surprised if someone in Hollywood doesn’t snap up the rights to this story.)
The carnage that occurs during the explosion is visceral. The way that the reaction to Jimmy’s broadcast spreads around the world is awesome. This is the way real-time video blogging would work – but only if the blogger had an audience. In the story, Jimmy’s broadcast is seized by a news conglomerate and broadcast everywhere. The whole world sees the newest terrorist attack on American soil.
Article comments
1 - Old Mayfly
Attention, Anthony Lappe, love your work but--please make one correction if Shooting War comes out in another edition. About midway in the book (why aren't the damned pages numbered?) you have Dan Rather talking to Jimmy Burns and quoting from the novel Appointment in Samarra. As the real Dan Rather knows (and I know because I'm the same generation) Appointment in Samarra was written by the American novelist John O'Hara--not by Somerset Maugham.
One of the ideas I get from your graphic novel is that reality matters. So, please, fact check! It is neoCons who don't need to.
2 - Anthony Lappé
From Wiki: The title is a reference to W. Somerset Maugham's retelling of an old story, which appears as an epigraph for the novel.