''Brought to Light: Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action'' is an anthology of two political

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s, published originally by

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. The two stories are ''Shadowplay: The Secret Team'' by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

and

Bill Sienkiewicz Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz ( ; born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' ''New Mutants'', ''Moon Knight,'' and '' Elektra: Assassin''. Sienkiewicz's work in the 1980 ...

, and ''Flashpoint: The LA Penca Bombing'' documented by

Martha Honey Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to J ...

and Tony Avirgan and adapted by

Joyce Brabner Joyce Brabner (born March 1, 1952) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Retrieved January 1, 2011WebCitation archive is a writer of political comics and the widow of Harvey Pekar. Biography Br ...

and

Tom Yeates Thomas Yeates (born January 19, 1955) is an American comic strip and comic book artist best known for illustrating the comic strips '' Prince Valiant'' and ''Zorro'' and for working on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Career Thomas ...

. ''Brought to Light'' was edited overall by Joyce Brabner, Catherine Yronwode acted as executive editor, and Eclipse publisher

Dean Mullaney Dean Mullaney (born June 18, 1954) is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was on ...

was the publication designer. Both stories were based upon research by the Christic Institute, who initiated the work.

''Shadowplay: The Secret Team''

''Shadowplay: The Secret Team'' was written by

and drawn by

, with an introduction by Daniel Sheehan (general counsel of TCI). It covers the history of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and its involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, the Iran-Contra affair, and its relationship with figures like

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

and

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal f ...

. The narrator of ''Shadowplay'' is an aging anthropomorphic

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

, a bellicose, retired CIA agent. There were rumors that Moore was unable to travel to America due to the CIA being annoyed at his story in ''Brought to Light''. However, the real reason was Moore not renewing his passport.Beaton, Frank
"Snake Charmer: An Interview with Alan Moore," part II
, NinthArt (April 7, 2003). The story of "Shadowplay" is of an unseen character in a bar, where he is approached by a man-sized, walking, talking eagle. The eagle, from the emblem of the CIA, proceeds to drink alcohol and, in a drunken stupor, divulge all the details of The Agency's past. Early on a reference is made to the number of gallons an Olympic swimming pool can hold, and the fact that an adult human body has one gallon of blood; from then on, the victims of CIA activities (directly or indirectly) are quantified in swimming pools filled with blood, with each pool representing 20,000 dead.

''Shadowplay'' spoken word

''Shadowplay'' was made into a spoken word performance with

and released on an audio compact disc () by Codex Books in 1998. The narrative for the production is performed by Moore himself, in character, set to music by the composer

Gary Lloyd Gary Lloyd (born 1965) is a Canadian-born British composer and producer. He has composed music for productions in theatre, contemporary dance, television drama and documentary, film, art installation, ''son et lumière (show), son et lumiere'', n ...

who also collaborated on a similar narrative/music performance piece with Scottish author

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

''Flashpoint: The LA Penca Bombing''

''Flashpoint: The LA Penca Bombing'' is written by

, as told to her by Christic Institute clients

and Tony Avirgan. It deals with the

La Penca bombing The La Penca bombing was a bomb attack carried out in May 30, 1984 at the remote outpost of La Penca, on the Nicaraguan side of the border with Costa Rica, along the San Juan River. It occurred during a press conference convened and conducted by ...

which happened during the civil war in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

in 1984. Credits for "Flashpoint" list Jonathan Marshall for the introduction, Joyce Brabner writing, and Thomas Yeates illustrating, with letters by Bill Pearson and painting by Sam Parsons. Martha Honey and Tony Avirgan are credited with having told the story to Joyce Brabner.

"30 Years of Covert War"

In the center is a two-page feature by

Paul Mavrides Paul Mavrides (born 1952) is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human ...

, "World Map of 30 Years of Covert Action" detailing what the Christic Insitute purported to be election tampering, drug trafficking, assassination, and other crimes committed by the CIA.

References

External links

* Full text at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

** ''Shadowplay: The Secret Team'' ** ''Flashpoint: The La Penca Bombing''
Alan Moore discusses ''Brought to LightAlan Moore interview
at '' The Idler'' {{Alan Moore 1988 comics debuts Non-fiction comics Non-fiction graphic novels Comics publications Eclipse Comics titles