Scene @ Shooting War Launch Party

Dan Goldman (in the striped shirt) greets friends at the launch party for Shooting War, the graphic novel he co-created with political journalist Anthony Lappé, held Monday night at Sutra after their Barnes & Noble event. Also featured in the photograph: Charles Brownstein of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Rachel Kramer Bussel, hip-hop artist Propaganda Anonymous, Jeff Newelt, Rachel Haywire, and Holly Marland. (Goldman has more photos from the evening on his Flickr account.)

Shooting War, published this week by Grand Central, is a continuation of a webcomic from Smith magazine, set four years in the future, with the war in Iraq still going strong and a would-be radical blogger sent by a corporate news network to get the story. The authors describe the online edition as “a sort of beta version of the book.” As they explain:

“We ended up remastering every panel from the online version, reworking the storyline and the political context, some of which came as a result of suggestions from our loyal readers on this site. The full-color 192-page hardcover graphic novel takes the story to its dramatic conclusion and features over 110 pages of new material, including all new plots twists and, by popular demand, more Dan Rather than you can shake a dead armadillo at.”

That’s right: The other major journalist covering the combat, and a key player in the second half of the story—he even gets to tell the classic “appointment in Samarra” story—is Dan Rather. (Several other recognizable media icons also make brief appearances, as does President John McCain. So at least we know how that’s going to turn out.)

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