The JFK assassination in cartoons? Author of book on John F. Kennedy plans graphic novel version

The JFK assassination in cartoons? Author of book on John F. Kennedy plans graphic novel version
Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
All Alabama
September 18, 2013 at 8:53 AM
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/09/the_jfk_assassination_in_carto.html

ART – sample cartoon panel from “JFK and the Unspeakable,” the graphic novel version

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Jim Douglass, author of a book about the assassination of John K. Kennedy, plans to turn his heavily researched analysis of that fateful day into a graphic novel.

Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Douglass, a peace activist who lives in Birmingham, is the author of ”JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters,” from the Catholic publisher Orbis Books.

Douglass believes Lee Harvey Oswald was framed, and Kennedy was killed by a high-level national security state organized by the CIA because Kennedy was going against them. It fits the theory that filmmaker Oliver Stone promoted in his movie, “JFK.” Stone and actor Martin Sheen have endorsed Douglass’ book. Douglass added a new twist to Stone’s conspiracy theory. He offered up a religious interpretation of the assassination, with help from the late best-selling author and monk Thomas Merton, who expressed his own thoughts on Kennedy and the Cold War.

After the book was published in 2008, a graphic novel writer contacted Douglass’ editor and proposed a graphic novel version. They pitched the idea to Douglass, but first had to explain what a graphic novel is. It’s kind of like a comic book, they told him. “I frankly didn’t know what a graphic novel was,” Douglass said.

“We were open to it,” he said. “This is a good idea.” Graphic artist Oliver Hine of Montreal has already begun drawing the cartoon panels, working with writer Seth Jacobson of New York. To raise money for the project, the graphic adaptation team started a 35-day Kickstarter fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.com on Sept. 10.
JFK-Cover-no-banner.jpg

They are trying to raise $17,500 by Oct. 16 to create a 156-page graphic adaptation to be released as monthly chapters in a year-long serial Ebook starting on Nov. 22, the 50th anniversary of the assassination.

“The graphic novel is to translate the story that I told into a genre and form that a new generation can receive it,” Douglass said.

“It’s a very hopeful way of telling JFK’s inspiring story, where he turned toward peace at the cost of his own life,” Douglass said. “It’s a story of hope.”

It will be an interesting experiment to see a 510-page historical work turned into a graphic novel. Douglass, a Catholic anti-war protester who often holds signs and pickets at Five Points South, spent 12 years researching the assassination. An appendix in “JFK and the Unspeakable” included Kennedy’s June 10, 1963, speech at American University, which Douglass calls critical in the president’s turn toward an embrace of peace.

Kennedy’s handling of Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs were key events in riling the shadow government that did him in, Douglass said. Because Kennedy refused to send U.S. troops to Cuba as part of the Bay of Pigs invasion, planned to withdraw troops from Vietnam, and asked for help from Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev in defusing the Cuba missile crisis, he was targeted for assassination by his own government, according to Douglass. Douglass uses the Kennedy assassination as a way to condemn what he calls the ”theology of redemptive violence,” referring to an approach to foreign policy that views violence as a solution.

Douglass believes Kennedy’s close brush with nuclear war helped turn him against the military-industrial complex that seemed to be pushing him to start a war. In the end, Kennedy, the nation’s only Catholic president, died as a martyr to the cause of peace, Douglass argues. If it wasn’t for Kennedy’s commitment to peace, “We’d have nuclear wasteland,” Douglass said.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE TRUTH ABOUT JFK ASSASSINATION IN
GRAPHIC ADAPTATION

November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. On this day, millions of people will remember this most monumental event in United States history.

Spearheaded by Seth Jacobson, author, and Oliver Hine, artist, we are creating the graphic adaptation of one of the most comprehensive and compelling studies ever written on the JFK assassination ­­ James W. Douglass’ shocking and transformative JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.

Thousands of people witnessed the assassination. Millions remember. Few know the definitive truth that JFK was a Cold Warrior turned peacemaker and Kennedy’s own government was behind the assassination.

With the support of James W. Douglass and Orbis Publishing, we are adapting JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters for today’s more visually inclined readers. We are attempting to reach the next generation of peacemakers and truth­seekers.

Currently, we, the graphic adaptation team, are running a 35­day Kickstarter ending on October 16, 2013 to fund this project. Our goal is to raise $17,500 in order to produce a 156­page graphic adaptation of Douglass’ book which will be released as an Ebook serial starting on November 22 of this year, culminating in the final release at the end of 2014.

Alongside the English version of JFK and the Unspeakable: The Graphic Adaptation we are excited to announce the Spanish translation of Ebook serial. With this translation we will be able to reach a much wider audience.

For more information, please contact:

Hope Hamilton (707) 992­5356

hope@jfkhedieditmatters.com

Website: jfkhedieditmatters.com

Facebook: facebook.com/jfkunspeakablegraphic

Twitter: twitter.com/jfkunspeakable