Unknown Soldier

Living Level-3 IRAQ

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Finally, a year after my research trip to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the comic I went there to research LIVING LEVEL-3: IRAQ is live online and free. Chapter 1 can be read right now! New chapters will be uploaded to the Huffington Post World page every day this week. It’s thirty-five pages of story done from four different character perspectives.

Here’s a trailer that the World Food Programme communications team cut together. Below it are links to the actual comic as well as to interviews and extras, including a blog write-up I did for Huffpo. There’s also some art and some love for the WFP communications team that acted as my guides while I was there. I hope you’ll check it all out…

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Unknown Soldier Gets Blogged Around the World

Posted on by Joshua Dysart Posted in Home, Press & Appearances, Unknown Soldier | 10 Comments

One thing the increased attention from the New York Times article has done for us is blow open the global internet. Where once we were spoken about almost exclusively on comic book websites and related blogs, now we are coming to the notice of a new kind of reader, one far more educated on the issues this book bats around with. Honestly, this was the scariest thing about the increased exposure. If anybody was going to call bullshit on what we’ve done here, it was going to be these people. But instead we were met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Here’s just a sampling of what some of our new audience is saying about us…

Ugandan Insomniac

She’s a Kampala woman who defines herself as…

“a  30-something journalist, writer and quack psychoanalyst (un)successfully pondering the complexities of herself, her people, her country and her world.”

Her review of Unknown Soldier is here. and includes such gems as…

Alberto Ponticelli’s art is moving.  For a native of Kampala, I felt his street scenes were a good depiction of the only life I know.

&

Ignorance of what exactly the war in Northern Uganda meant for millions who suffered under it is extremely high in the rest of this country.  For many people living south of the Karuma Falls, it was too far removed from their peaceful reality to comprehend.  Misunderstanding is highest among youth under 25 living outside of the affected region.  Many of them are unaware of the future repercussions of growing up with a generation of people that were subjected – and for the most part, abandoned to – a life at the brink of the abyss. It excites me that Unknown Soldier is that it will, perhaps, bring the story of the north to an entirely new generation.

Already I’m using her blog as a resource for future work on the book.

Africa Is A Country

Africa Is A Country is a phenomenal blog about African politics and the continent’s place in the world. I can’t recommend it more highly.

The bloggers  coverage of the New York Times article on Unknown Soldier is here.

CHRIS BLATTMAN

“An Assistant Professor of Political Science and Economics at Yale” who studies “poverty alleviation, political participation, the causes and consequences of violence, and public policy in developing countries.”

His blog is fantastic and he’s also given us one of our most prized reviews of Unknown Soldier.

My first reaction: This is patently absurd. Northern Uganda can simply not get any more kitsch. Second reaction: Better not jump to conclusions. To the comic book store. Third reaction: Whoa. This is simply outstanding.

and…

Tasteful. Thoughtful. Compelling. Gripping. Historically accurate (well, mostly–I mean this is a comic book). Writer Joshua Dysart has done leaps and bounds better then virtually every journalist (and a fair number of researchers) that I know.

Please support these bloggers! And if you know of any other blogs of this caliber and with similar concerns please don’t hesitate to post them in the comments section.

Unknown Soldier in the New York Times!

Posted on by Joshua Dysart Posted in Home, Press & Appearances, Unknown Soldier | 5 Comments

Click here for the article.

If it’s the article that’s brought you here, WELCOME! Now… Please click on the button that reads BEHIND THE SCENES UNKNOWN SOLDIER at the top right of this site.

The hits to this site have been staggering this morning. I know it’s pretty self-explanatory, but this is not the main Unknown Soldier page. The button above will portal you to a dedicated page where you’ll find photographs, posts, videos and more about Kony, the LRA and the comic book itself. The posts were often slammed out between deadlines in short writing sprints, so please excuse typos. I’ll be cleaning up the page in the following days.

So no, the post below entitled THE SHATNER BREAKDOWN… BITCHES! is not Ugandan specific and is even a little embarrassing in light of the new found attention.

Thanks for visiting!

The road to the Eisners… and beyond.

Posted on by Joshua Dysart Posted in Comic Books, Home, Press & Appearances, Unknown Soldier | Leave a comment

Though nominated, Unknown Soldier did not win for Best New Series in 2009.

That honor went to Invincible Iron Man.

Congratulations to writer Matt Fraction, artist Salvador Larroca, colorist Frankie D’Armata, letterer Chris Eliopoulos, editor Warren Simons and assistant editor Alejandro Arbona.

However… the Examiner.com did something really cool. They interviewed me before the Eisner competition and then caught up with me afterwards, and published both things as separate articles.

You can find what I had to say the day of the award ceremony here.

And then my response the next day, after loosing, here.

Dysart on Marketplace (UPDATE)

Posted on by Joshua Dysart Posted in Comic Books, Home, Press & Appearances, Unknown Soldier | 2 Comments

You can find the NPR radio interview here.

Here’s an embed of it…

And here’s some video they shot of me explaining the process behind Unknown Soldier. Check out that freeze frame… drunk much.

Comic book writer Joshua Dysart from Marketplace on Vimeo.