Futuristic Web Comic Echoes Reality
Belief:
Are the "New Atheists" As Bad as Christian Fundamentalists?
Frank Schaeffer
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
How a Public Jobs Program Could Put America Back on Track
Julianne Malveaux
DrugReporter:
Pot Is More Mainstream Than Ever, So Why Is Legalization Still Taboo?
Steven Wishnia
Environment:
Why We Need Bees and More People Becoming Organic Beekeepers
Makenna Goodman
Food:
The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights
Makenna Goodman
Health and Wellness:
New York May Stop Heartless Health Insurers from Dropping Coverage When It Stops Being Profitable
William Ehart
Immigration:
NYC Marathon Raises Question of Who Is American Enough?
James E. Johnson, Jr.
Media and Technology:
Focusing on Fort Hood Killer's Beliefs Is an Easy Out to Avoid the Deeper Reasons for the Massacre
Mark Ames
Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler
Politics:
What Michelle and Barack's Marriage Has in Common with 56 Million Other Ones
Annabelle Gurwitch
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Fetus-Shaped Potatoes? Going Undercover Inside the Weird World of Right-Wing Abortion Foes
Ann Neumann
Rights and Liberties:
"My Kids Want to Hide Their Identity; They're Scared Someone Will Attack Us": U.S. Muslims Being Targeted
Jaisal Noor
Sex and Relationships:
Instant Sex: Has the Digital Age Destroyed Relationships or Made Them Better?
Vanessa Richmond
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders
Water:
Why Natural Gas Is Not a Clean Energy Panacea
Stan Cox
World:
With Unemployment at 40 Percent, Afghan Teens Enlist in Army, Police
Lal Aqa Sherin
That's the eerie world of "Shooting War," an arresting web comic from author Anthony Lappé and artist Dan Goldman. Only a half-dozen chapters of "Shooting War" have been published on SMITH magazine since May 15, yet this episodic series has already become a prescient commentary on the future of warring Iraqi factions, globalization and citizen journalism's struggle against mainstream media.
"The world of 'Shooting War' is half where I think things are headed and half satire," Lappé told me by phone. As executive editor of Guerrilla News Network, Lappé identifies with Jimmy Burns' dilemma in working for the ficticious Global News.
"Burns is a vulnerable hero with aspirations of fame and money, but his politics are grounded," Lappé explained. "So does he sell out to reach a wider audience?" According to Lappé, Global News is akin to Al-Jazeera (and for that matter, political blogs), in that it prides itself on being uncensored.
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| "Shooting War<" |
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| "Shooting War" |
See more stories tagged with: war, iraq, terrorism, future, graphic novel, comic
Zack Pelta-Heller is a graduate student at The NewSchool and a regular contributor to AlterNet.
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