Picasso’s famous anti-war painting Guernica is an example of how current events can inspire art that comments on politics, without seeming like a piece of “message propaganda.”
Shooting War (Nov. 19, Hachette), an original graphic novel from author Anthony Lappe and illustrator Dan Goldman, makes a similar attempt to straddle the fine line between art and commentary.
Lappe has seen the war in Iraq firsthand as a reporter and documentary producer. He brings a jarring degree of realism to his dialogue, setting, fake news stories and blog entries that guide the reader through each character’s internal workings.
Goldman uses a combination of photos and detailed, life-like sketches in Shooting War to tell his story. The captivating art makes Lappe’s heavy dialogue jump off of the page. The story fosters flawed, interesting characters that reveal much about themselves without telling everything.
Set in 2011, the book reads like a more immediate and realistic version of the gritty near future depicted in the 2006 film Children of Men.
The story focuses on the life of left-wing blogger-turned-journalist Jimmy Burns, as he becomes embroiled in the growing crisis in Iraq. Jimmy takes a job working for the fictional news conglomerate Global News after capturing exclusive images of a terrorist bombing.
In Iraq, Jimmy and local producer and love interest Sameera are embedded within an elite military unit where shots are fired and news people are thwarted in attempts to report the news.
Further muddling matters is the presence of a militia group known as the Sword of Mohammed, which has decided that Jimmy will broadcast its message of local empowerment to the world.
No amount of rhetoric from either side seems to make much sense in light of all of the death and destruction that Jimmy witnesses.
Stuck between the U.S. Army, which is led by an exhausted and desperate President McCain, and the militant, propagandist Sword of Mohammed, Jimmy and Sameera struggle to survive and create decent journalism along the way. Some of the most heart-wrenching moments in the book come from Jimmy’s reflections on the horrors of war.
Though these passages may come off as preachy, Lappe avoids clichés by giving readers Jimmy’s personal take on how the war zone has altered his modes of thought, his priorities and even his dreams.
A few too many plot twists prevent Shooting War from making its points as succinctly as it might. Because Lappe and Goldman have chosen to stress the randomness and uncertainty of war over a tidy narrative, the anti-climax left plot threads dangling.
Though the final resolution of Jimmy’s career is satisfying, the trip the book takes to get you there is confusing, chaotic and forced at certain points.
Some of the hipster language used in the book runs the risk of becoming irrelevant and confusing before 2011, and the occasional attempt at inspirational dialogue, even when it’s delivered by a fictionalized Dan Rather, seems unnatural and even corny in the context of the authors’ desperate world.
Overall, Shooting War is an engaging and rewarding read that leaves the reader uneasy, terrified and hopeful. The passage of time may render Shooting War an interesting curiosity that was timely in 2007 and irrelevant soon after but, for the moment, few books are able to actively and knowingly create a near future dystopia that feels as real as this one.
