It's 2011. The Iraq war has been going for 8
years, and is spreading. A self confessed enemy of the corporate world, the
young and cocky blog journalist Jimmy Burns, unwittingly finds himself at the
right place at the right time.
Standing outside his apartment, streaming live to his blog
with his new camera, Burns is pondering the Starbucks that stole his favourite
"Bodega", when a bomb suddenly tears his building apart. His stream
is quickly hijacked (exclusively, of course) by "Global News - America's
number one home for around-the-clock terror coverage."
Soon swept up by the
network machine, Burns finds himself in Iraq, where he quickly realises
that he is completely unprepared for the horrors of war. Before too long, he
has been through a baptism of 'friendly' fire and is doing what I know I would
be doing in his situation: getting very, very drunk.
Shooting World is a new online graphics comic
that was officially released just this week, on June 6. Created and written by
Anthony Lappe, the Executive Editor of the Guerrilla News Network, with art by
Dan Goldman, Shooting World is a reminder that comics still have their
place among the political agitators. Step back to the McCarthy era, to a time
when Dr Frederick Wertham's hysterical aversion to the comic resulted in the
introduction of the Comic Code Authority, and one can see that, while the
censors try, those willing to subvert will always find a way.
Wertham began his crusade against
the comic in 1940, and published the book Seduction of the Innocent in
1954. The Comic Code Authority, which was put into force in the same year and
survived until the late 1960's, put 25 of the 29 publishers of 'crime comics'
out of business, as they found themselves well outside the bounds of what Wertham
thought to be either 'good taste' or 'decency'. What would Wertham think of
today's version of the comic? Certainly he would be most vexed at having little
or no control over any of their content or distribution!
Distribution is indeed the key. The humble blog has
ensured that more people today are able to write to the masses without censor
or hinderance. I must confess I am a blog spotter. Each screen is a little peek
into the minds of my fellow man, uninterrupted by the opinions of media moguls,
politicians and the censorship cronies. A blog I stumbled across one day was
from a young woman in Iraq, who told the story of a record shop owner who had
been recently killed. She told of days sitting around in that shop, listening
to music and talking about anything, everything, with her friend. Her blog
allowed me a few minutes in her world, and when you read blogs like this, the
distance between people virtually disappears, and makes the demonizing and
'divide and conquer' techniques of the mainstream media seem perfectly
rediculous.
So it's fitting that a new comic, uploaded to the world
wide web, should deal with the issue of blog journalism and its credibility as
a news source, a debate which is sure to continue indefinitely, so long as
there is critical thought, that is.
Comics have, and always will be, a reflection
of our time, and none more so than Shooting World. On a deeper level -
nay, on a Jungian level, comics often appeal to us because we see deeply rooted
reflections of our society's archetypes within them: the hero, the trickster,
the villain, etc. Already Shooting World has a hero, albeit a reluctant
one, in Jimmy Burns. What will be interesting to see unravel is how our hero
uses his power (his camera) to win the battle over evil. The only question
remains is, who are the 'evil ones'? The menacing GIs who ply him with drink
and then threaten him in a seedy bar? The kidnappers who let him go only after
making him videotape a beheading? The blurred lines between 'right and wrong'
'good and evil' 'us and them' make the possibilities of this comic endless.
Almost as endless as the war itself.
Mission Accomplished. The comic,
that is.
Go to:
http://smithmag.us/shootingwar/index.php
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