Comic-Con: The Graphic 9/11 Report

Slate Gorton (left) is almost certainly the first former U.S. Senator to speak at the Comic-Con, but as one of the members of the independent commission that investigated the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he had a special purpose in coming to San Diego Friday morning. “We have believed since the beginning that what we have said and the official report itself ought to stand alone on its own merits,” he said. “Then this came along as the exception.” “This” is Hill and Wang’s forthcoming “graphic adaptation” of the report, written by Sid Jacobson and illustrated by Ernie Colon, two of the industry’s long-time greats (we first mentioned the project back in April). Impressed by “the accuracy and the thoughtfulness” of their work, Gorton was delighted by the prospect that the clear, dynamic visual presentation might disseminate the commission’s ideas even further than the original report.

“We never thought of it as a comic book,” said Jacobson (near right), explaining how he and Colon distilled the dense report into the new format. “We were simply using the methodology we knew for telling stories.” One of the most immediate innovations was a timeline presentation that allows for a simultaneous depiction of what was happening on all four flights hijacked during the attacks. He and publisher Thomas LeBien discussed the process of creating visual representations for events when the historical record doesn’t always leave visual traces (like, for example, the counterattack launched by the passengers of United 93). I asked LeBien about how Hill & Wang intended to cope with the “gee whiz” coverage typical of mainstream media reporting on anything to do with the comics format. “It’s going to be heavy lifting,” he admitted. “It’s such an easy news lead to say 9/11: The Comic and have that be seen as a perjorative. I don’t know how you get beyond that other than by putting books out there. The one thing I’m sure of is that there’s an appetite for this kind of information.” To that end, Hill & Wang is also producing graphic biographies of figures like Malcolm X and Ronald Reagan, and Jacobson said he’s already deep into the research for After 9/11, which will use the same technqiues to report on exactly how America has conducted the war on terror.

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