Lots to check out here folks so I am going to get out of the way as fast as possible. Before even hitting the shelves at your local Barnes & Noble, SHOOTING WAR is already one of the most talked about graphic novels of the year. Why? It started off as a web comic in SMITH Magazine. Anthony Lappé (of Gurerilla News Network) and Dan Goldman brought their startling journey of videoblogger Jimmy Burns to life via pixels instead of ink.

Now, completed, revised, and as bracing as it was on day one, SHOOTING WAR is hitting the printed page with a vengeance. Check out the trailer, an intro from Anthony, and an exclusive preview of the first 17 pages. Whatever you think of Jimmy's oddesy, you won't soon forget it.

Thanks to Anthony, Dan, Jah Furry, and the whole gang at Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Book Group. Take it away, Anthony...



Shooting War: The New Graphic Novel (trailer)

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What inspired you to write Shooting War?
Shooting War was in part inspired by my own reporting in Iraq for a documentary I produced for the Guerrilla News Network (with my partner Stephen Marshall) called BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge. We traveled across the country just as the insurgency was beginning to gain strength, trying to understand the various forces that were fueling resistance to the coalition occupation. Near the end of our trip, we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Sunni Triangle interviewing Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman; the cocky former West Point quarterback had become a legend among his men for his aggressive attitude and tactics. After vehemently denying allegations locals made to us that his unit beat up old ladies, shot pets and hauled off innocent young men in midnight raids, a frustrated Sassaman blurted out, "My life is a surreal movie. Everyday I wake up, and it's a surreal movie." (Sassaman later resigned in disgrace after trying to cover up the killing of an Iraqi teenager by two of his men.)

Sassaman's comment stuck with me. And as soon as I got home, I began crafting a storyline in my head to try and capture the former college football star's moment of clarity. All war is to some extent or another inherently surreal, but Iraq will surely be the most surreal of our lifetime. The utterly avoidable conflict has turned into a Hobbesian war of all against all - thrusting hundreds of thousands of jacked-up PS2-reared American ass-kickers, most of whom who can't find Iraq on a map, let alone explain the difference between Shia and Sunni, into a cauldron of centuries-old hatred and conflict.

I am convinced it will go down in history as one of the greatest military blunders of the modern era. It is a great tragedy. But also an incredible farce. And it is the intersection of tragedy and surreal farce that I try to capture in Shooting War.

I set Shooting War in 2011 as a sort of thought experiment, to take today's headlines and extrapolate where we might be headed. Of course, my future ain't pretty. Imagine today's rash of bad news. I mean there's a shitload of really bad news right now - but multiply that by ten, maybe eleven. I freely admit it's a dark vision of the worst-case scenario of where the Bush agenda is leading us. There's a global oil crisis, the U.S. economy is busted, and the Middle East has devolved into regional strife. And, of course, in Iraq, a full-on civil war is raging, but our allies are not who you think they'd be.

Who is Jimmy Burns?
Shooting War is the story of an indie media heartthrob named Jimmy Burns. The Brooklyn-based videoblogger gets his big break as he happens to be uploading a live rant in front a Starbucks when a suicide bomber blows the coffee joint to kingdom come. Jimmy becomes and overnight mainstream media star, and is snatched up by a new controversial, no-holds-barred network (Global News: "Your home for 24-hour terror coverage"). The network makes him and offer he can't refuse - a shot reporting from civil war-torn Iraq, where the situation is so dangerous most of their competitors have pulled their star reporters. Jimmy's greatest dream (to be a war correspondent) becomes his biggest nightmare as he nearly loses his mind in the paranoia, chaos and destruction of the spiraling civil war.

Jimmy himself is in some ways not unlike Sassaman – a classic cocky American who's always had it easy – girls, friends, constant praise. But in Iraq, like Sassaman, he's faced with challenges he could never imagine, and Jimmy's confidence begins to erode as he realizes he may not be equipped to handle being a correspondent in the most deadly war ever for journalists.