The Stench of Occupation in BOOM! Studios' Burning Fields

by Vince Brusio

The ugly face of the private military is one of the billboards you’ll pass on Route 666 to Michael Moreci’s Burning Fields #1 (NOV141067). The new series from BOOM! Studios was a Featured Item in the November PREVIEWS catalog, and we were finally able to track down Moreci and co-writer Tim Daniel to learn more about this book that’s hitting comic shops January 21^st.

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PREVIEWSworld: For those who may not be up to speed on what you’re doing with Burning Fields #1, what can you tell us about this geopolitical drama with monster mythos?

Michael Moreci: The story centers on Dana Atkinson, a former military investigator who returns to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk to help investigate a string a grisly murders. When she arrives, she of course encounters way more than she bargained for and, at the same time, dredges up a longstanding conflict between herself and the commander of a local private military company. What Tim and I are trying to capture is much broader than our first effort, Curse. This story is big: it encompasses the ugly face of the private military, the contentious area in and around Kirkuk, as well as the central murder mystery plot that leads somewhere much, much darker. It's going to be a challenging read, but a rewarding one, I can promise that.

PREVIEWSworld: Were there any current/past events or reading material that helped influence this story?

Michael Moreci: Tons. I did all the usual Internet fact-finding research, which was important for getting a pulse on Kirkuk's culture and people. That's something I knew I wanted to capture as accurately as possible. From there, I went pretty deep into researching private militaries, who they are, and how they function. I've long held a pretty staunch stance against the privatization of armed forces — for many reasons — but wanted to dig deeper into what I knew. This encompassed consuming the work of Jeremy Scahill, who wrote the essential book on Blackwater, as well as tapping my friend Eric Stoner, who runs the website Waging Nonviolence, for important insight.

PREVIEWSworld: Without giving away too much, what scene(s) would you most likely want to blog about as being representative of the tone or fun factor for the first story arc?

Tim Daniel: Speaking in general terms, the first arc of Burning Fields (#1-4) is like a Nirvana song – that loud/quiet, fast/slow dynamic. Readers will know just what they’re in for within the first two pages of the first issue, and by the final scene of that same book they’ll see how much darker the series can get. One of the most appealing things about the first arc is the partnership that’s forming between Dana and Aban, our detective duo. There’s the usual banter, the back-and-forth exchanges — only instead of nifty one-liners these two are trading some pretty heavy-duty haymakers grounded in the setting and story, and culled from their life-experience thus far. Their conversations have a purpose and meaning, revealing the character of their characters and furthering the investigation simultaneously. There’s simply not one issue where readers won’t get some pretty gruesome action and touch upon the unraveling mystery. The first four issues have a heightening tension as a result. And though you confined the question to the first arc, that mounting tension pays off in grand fashion throughout a series of explosive crescendos in issues of 5-8.

PREVIEWSworld: What is the most challenging aspect about writing this series?

Tim Daniel: Being sensitive to reality. I wish this were all fiction – that Burning Fields as set in an imaginary city, involving imaginary atrocities and imaginary civilian casualties. It’s not – there’s a strong basis of reality in our tale, real incidents we researched and incorporated, and we’re acutely aware of that we should not make that a basis for exploitation. As a result there have been some elements that were edited out of the outlines, more out of respect than self-censorship.  The second part to that is the notion of balancing our respect for the men and women serving in the Middle East against the private military companies that are our fellow Americans, but taken as a whole, these for-profit outfits have committed some pretty atrocious acts. I was fortunate enough to speak with several veterans, now students, on campus here in Missoula, MT, and the few stories they shared with me — particularly the female soldiers — really helped me connect to Dana’s plight. Certainly, the challenge is to make clear to the reader where our support lies – and clearly that’s with the enlisted men and women of the armed forces and the innocent civilians of those countries we currently occupy with our troops.

PREVIEWSworld: If people want to know more about this book by touching base with the creators, what social media sites should they visit?

Michael Moreci: You can find me on Twitter at @michaelmoreci.

Tim Daniel: I'm @enormouscomic on Twitter, and Colin Lorimer is @UXBcomic.