Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Bruno Oliveira, Chad Lewis, Drones, kickstarter, zuda

The War On Terror – Now Playing In Vegas

Published Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:00:54 -0500

Chris Lewis writes for Bleeding Cool:

"This needs a rewrite."

That was the reaction to the first script from a very popular and well-respected professional in the industry. And it made my heart sink.

Too bad I had already hired the soon-to-be household name and always-to-remain nice guy artist Bruno Oliveira. Tough luck that he had rough layouts for the entire first issue. And boo hoo that I was well into the fourth issue scripting process.

Time to give up? Not an option. Because I had been working my butt off for the last four years writing thousands of words, finishing multiple short stories and two miniseries, doing the Zuda thing, and honing my craft in the crucible that is Comics Experience. Because I had decided that this was the right time in my comics writing career to actually get something published.

And most importantly, because I had something to say about a topic that nobody else wants to touch. Drones.

Drones. You know those things that are flying over foreign countries as you read this, ostensibly doing official good stuff, and unofficially…um…killing civilians, all in the name of the previously-known-as War on Terror? Of course you do. We've all seen news reports about the newest technological wonders of war, but where are the stories? I wanted to explore the extraordinary and psychologically damaging fact that some of these drone operators live and work at a base outside of Las Vegas, the absolute center of weird. These people fly missions over Afghanistan, (but not Pakistan or Yemen, and definitely probably not Canada…yet), as the Strip, warping reality like a massive yet twinkling black hole, is a quick fifteen-minute drive away. There's a story there, and I had to tell it.

But you don't think I'm going to get all deep on you or something, right?

Because this is a story that takes place in a terrorism-themed hotel. We've got cross-dressing assassins, radio controlled model airplanes, and next-gen poppy tech. I fell in love with a background character and decided to give that goat some alcohol in issue four (which may have led to a drunken kung fu attack on some HaM.A.S.H. security guards). And there's a Reaper drone that's used for something more pleasurable than just surveillance.

As you can see, we're not trying to change foreign policy or save the world. What Drones attempts to do is inject some urgency to the discussion in a way that only comics can do.

So I went back and rewrote the script. Bruno (the only Brazilian male I know who uses his first and last name) waited patiently as editor Jon Hogan and I molded this beast into its current form. Cabral (one name Brazilian – see above) used his pop culture palette to round out Drones with a slight acidity. And E.T. Dollman, letterer and designer, was, is, and will always remain, my own personal Jesus.

Two years later and we are finished with the book. In order to share Drones with the rest of the world, we're running a Kickstarter campaign to get the tpb printed. Now it's time to get other people, ie. you, involved in this bizarre discussion. As a special promotion, I'm opening up a reward level that Bleeding Cool readers are hearing about first. It will give ten lucky people the chance to get an original page of Drones artwork, signed by me (or not…it's your choice), at half the regular price.

Thanks for taking the time to read these ramblings, and we appreciate all the support you gracious people have shown. There's no way we could have made it this far without you!

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