Shooting War

Why is it that I'm hear more about really intelligent and innovative comics from sources OTHER than the comics news outlets? I just read about Shooting War in a magzine geared towards advertising and ad agencies. And when I get to the Shooting War site, it's got quotes from Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Village Voice. Long-time fangrrl Heidi MacDonald evidently did make note of it back when she was still working with The Pulse, and some online searches did turn up that Newsarama had had an interview with creator Dan Goldman (under the supremely understated title "Up and Coming: Dan Goldman") and Rich Johnston made a two-sentence plug for it deep in one of his "Lying in the Gutters" columns.

After reading the first two chapters, I have to say that this the comics community is SORELY neglecting this gem! Although it's ostensibly about a journalist covering the Iraq War in 2011, it's so far been amazingly apolitical. The subtexts are more about the media, how they're acting and re-acting to the evolving socio-political climate, and how -- despite good intentions -- the reality of dealing with them undermines those who try to fight the system.

But that's only the first two chapters.

So far, it's been amazingly engaging, despite what some proponents of web comics might call technical problems. It's a bit copy-heavy in places. The manual page-by-page click-throughs are somewhat distracting. But the story is so well done that I'm more than willing to overlook those issues and simply focus on the story itself.

Excellent job by Dan Goldman, and I look forward to seeing what else he does.

Now, if you haven't already, go read Shooting War!

UPDATE: Just finished reading the online story. It gets a little more political in nature, but stays largely focused on the media. Very powerful story, and I'll be first in line to get the published conclusion in 2007. Excellent, excellent stuff! Go read this now!

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