“You’re hooked. . .You need the action and you’re not going to get it wasting your life away shagging underfed anarchists, doing second rate coke and whining about evil corporations at Im-a-jackass.com. . .Global News needs men like you, men with the balls to step up and bare witness to history.”
Shooting War is a Graphic novel, a dark, dystopian vision of the near future as seen by a Correspondent in Baghdad. It’s the story of how a young Blogger, Jimmy Burns, is in the right place at the right time to film a suicide bombing at his local Starbucks in New York. His pictures are taken live by Global News Network who then hire him and send him to Iraq. The year is 2011 and President McCain is leading America deeper and deeper into a recession. Most of the Islamic countries have shut off oil supplies to the West, Europe and the US are being hit by regular terrorist attacks and fighting wars across the globe and Iraq has descended into a brutal civil war between rival extremist factions.
It’s a shame I didn’t get around to reviewing this book sooner as it was called “Book of the year” in 2008 by Forbidden Planet and British GQ put it in their list of One Hundred best things in the world. The two men responsible for the book are Anthony Lappe a feature writer, Blogger and Radio personality who also produced the Iraq documentary, Battleground: 21 days on the Empires Edge and Dan Goldman a writer, illustrator and designer.
I found the book by accident while browsing a comic book store in Leicester. As soon as I saw the cover design I was hooked: it’s a reflection of a Gun-battle in a Cameraman’s lens with his eyes showing over the top. The artwork throughout the book is outstanding, mixing photography and illustration in a way that really manages to capture the brutality, fear and passion of war.
The dialogue is sharp, highly political and at times extremely witty. At one point Jimmy manages to upset the Commander of a US patrol by filming something he shouldn’t, the Officer goes ballistic: “If I hear a peep from you I’ll drop you off in the middle of Baquba, naked with ‘Mohammed is fag’ written in Arabic across your chest.” Genius. . .
Journalist Jimmy Burns hides during a fire-fight in Baghdad
I love the fact that Jimmy is such a morally ambiguous character, he’s a self confessed liar, fake and fraud. You can’t love him but neither can you hate him. There’s a piece of all of his in him. The most interesting and charismatic character of all is the leader of “The Sword Of Mohammed” – a dangerous new insurgent group using the power of the internet and call centers to further the cause of jihad. He’s a realist and sees that the old fundamentalist ways will never be truly embraced by young Muslims: “The promise of 70 Virgins in the next life cannot compete with the pleasures of the modern world.” He says, “that is why the Wahabis, the Mullahs and the Salafis will never wield true power. Sixty percent of the Arab world is under the age of thirty and ninety percent of them want freedom, more technology and more learning. . .They are waiting for a leader to bring them out of the dark ages. And who do they get? Illiterate fairy boys who shriek at the sight of a woman’s ankle? Mullahs who whip the educated and talented in the streets for minor trespasses.”
If you are interested in World Affairs and journalism then I do really recommend this book. Even if you are not a fan of the graphic novel I’m sure you will find it a cracking and thought provoking read.
