The Middle East is a place that’s constantly in the American media for some reason or another: terrorist attacks, various civil wars, our own military presence there, or any number of other reasons. It’s not that often, however, that we see it used as a serious and thoughtful backdrop for comics.
Falling into the category of “war horror”, “Burning Fields” is the newest collaboration of writers Michael Moreci and Tim Daniel and artist Colin Lorimer, the team behind the acclaimed “Curse”. The story follows former military investigator Dana Atkinson as she is pulled back into the thick of things when a string of grisly murders start popping up near a Iraqi oil field that’s watched over by a private military company. What she can’t know is that an unnamed mythological horror is somehow involved and things are only going to get worse.
Read on as we chat with Moreci and Daniel about “Burning Fields”, returning to horror after “Curse”, co-writing, accurately portraying real culture in fictional stories, and much more. “Burning Fields” is still available for pre-order and can be pre-ordered with the code NOV141067.
I think this is something you’ve probably gotten a lot already at this point, but: You guys previously collaborated on “Curse”, also at Boom. “Curse” was pretty well received, judging from all the positive reviews it garnered. Now, the two of you are visiting the horror genre again with “Burning Fields”. Is there any sort of expectations going into this book? Or are the two of you trying to treat this as something completely separate, as much as possible?
Michael Moreci: I think the only expectations we have are the ones we set for ourselves. And that expectation–or standard, rather–is to somehow push limits in the comics medium and tell a story that isn’t being told right now. I think there’s similarities between “Curse” and “Burning Fields”, for sure, in that they’re both character-driven horror, but they end their. “Curse” was an intimate yarn while “Burning Fields” is much larger in scope, encompassing the culture of private military companies, the contentions surrounding the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and the American military occupation in Iraq. This is the story that spoke to us because, like “Curse”, it justified its existence. I think it’s fair to say neither Tim nor I take our stories lightly–we both believe that if you’re going to tell a story then, damn it, you better have something to say. In both “Curse” and “Burning Fields”, we had something to say; those things are very different, but I think the experience from a reader’s perspective will remain consistent.
Tim Daniel: If we’re going to revisit something and in this case it’s the horror genre, then we’d better raise the bar as far as our internal standards are concerned. I think we’ve done that and Mike has outlined some of the ways we’ve achieved that above. A lot of that success comes from having the same team as well – Colin Lorimer doing full art duties, Riley Rossmo contributing covers, Joanna LaFuente and Jim Campbell on colors and letters respectively. Each and every one of us has to fulfill our roles as storytellers. Those names alone with their solid professionalism gives me great hope we’ve exceeded our own standards already.
The two of you co-wrote “Curse”, just as you’re doing with “Burning Fields”. You’ve also written other things solo, like Tim with “Enormous” and Mike with “Roche Limit” or “Skybreaker”. What does co-writing bring to the table that solo writing may not?
MM: I think co-writing keeps us both in check a little. For my part, I tend to get much more heady and esoteric when left to my own devices (see: “Roche Limit”, haha). Tim and I make a nice set of checks and balances, keeping focused on what we’re trying to convey in the story first and foremost. Don’t get me wrong, we do indulge ourselves here and there and there’s ultimately no denying certain tics, but we do find a nice harmony and balance as well.
TD: What I dig about collaboration is, you’ve got multiple people driving the story and there’s hopefully, very few blind spots as a result. You get the unique chance to strengthen weakness and showcase strengths at the same time. For my part, it’s pretty useful to take the learnings I garnered through “Curse” and “Burning Fields” and apply them immediately to “Enormous” or “Skinned”. There’s a certain confidence in knowing that even when my flaws are exposed and dissected by Mike or the editorial team of Eric Harburn and Chris Rosa, the result is always improvement both in the story and my craft. Funny to think that collaboration can be so self-serving (wink).
Continued below“Burning Fields” is being described as “war horror”, which is admittedly something we don’t see a lot of. What about the war and the horrors already inherent to it made it such a rich background to set this story?
MM: Man, you can write a very, very long treatise on this question. Where to even begin with the horrors of war? There’s something there that is just fundamentally frightening, and it transcends the fear of being killed in the line of duty. One of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen, honest, is Full Metal Jacket. That movie does more than terrify me–it disturbs me. Kubrick captures the unnatural state of war, the poison that invades the individual and the cultures of everyone involved. He makes war personal and revolting. A similar sentiment is shared in “Burning Fields”, as the fundamental heart of the story is this woman, Dana, and her unrelenting quest for redemption, justice, and truth amidst the background of war. It’s deeply personal to her, this quest, yet we see how the bigger picture is not just tainting here, it’s tainting everything–sin entering the garden, so to speak.
TD: Well said Mike – aside from poverty and environmental degradation I can’t think of a more horrific atrocity than warfare. I had the chance to talk with a couple of veterans while writing “Burning Fields”. Both are now students at the university where I work and I really got some pretty solid insight into their experience. The first was a female soldier formerly stationed in Iraq, the other an older veteran who has endured brain surgery and multiple strokes. The female soldier in particular was very instructive as she was able to recount details of her original tour of duty and we touched upon everything from competition, treatment of her by male soldiers and officers, mixed-gender barracks living, even the simple notion of how she would carry herself when shouldering a 40 lb. pack so as to not show weakness or fatigue and thereby attempting to gain her peers respect. What was most extraordinary, and it became the one moment that boosted my confidence about our depiction of Dana, was the feeling she described of being “empty” when she came home for the first time. She claimed it was the terrifying. The hardest thing she’s done – harder than seeing her peers injured or another of her fellow soldiers overdose. And it hit home, finally – war is horror. I mean, if coming home is that hard, what does war truly do to us?
“Burning Fields” is set in the Middle East – Iraq to be specific – and you’re playing with some regional mythology as part of the story. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
TD: Once we decided upon the setting for “Burning Fields”, we then explored the mythology of the region. It turns out that as conflicted and volatile as area is itself, the Mesopotamian mythology proved to be equally filled with fantastically rich and varied tales of monstrous beings and conquering heroes. We selected one tale in particular, looked at how certain aspects of it applied to our story, specifically our lead characters, then set about creating an iconography that could be used as a visual motif throughout the series. I don’t like the idea of appropriation, but we were selective and careful in expressing some of the more outlandish mythological conceits in our story. I mean, do readers really want to see monsters mating with mountains? They do? Next book then…
Now, let’s touch on the main character of “Burning Fields”, Dana. She’s a former military investigator and was dishonorably discharged. As you’ve mentioned, she’s drawn into all this as part of her personal desire for redemption. It’s something from her past that gets her on the plane to Kirkuk. Can you guys elaborate on that any?
TD: At the start of all this, Mike sent me a batch of pictures, each of which show the cement breakwater along Lake Michigan in the dead of winter. A foreboding and unforgiving landscape to be sure and one that can be seen here: http://burningfields.tumblr.com/
Continued belowSo, that set of pictures inspired a series of very significant events that take place in Dana’s history. We actually batted those scenes back andf forth before ever really writing the proper series outline. Juicy stuff for sure, real strong emotional characterization…anyway, getting a hint of that you can imagine then how thoroughly those events color not only Dana’s present state but the entire series. Couple her Chicago experience with her inauspicious military career and then you’re getting right to the heart of the strongest theme running through “Burning Fields”.
Once Dana gets to Iraq, she’s helped by Iraqi detective Aban Fasad. Aban faces a different set of troubles as he tries to maintain order in a place where not only his own people, but foreigners as well are waging war and causing trouble. How does he fit into the story of “Burning Fields”?
TD: Aban holds a position of authority in that he’s a police detective but he’s long been frustrated by an inability to fully exercise the power of his position due to local corruption and a number of competing factions that occupy the greater Kirkuk region. The pursuit of justice is something he’s seldom been able to realize in an unfettered manner and that makes him damned near the perfect foil as well as a genuine compliment to his American counterpart , who has experienced the same frustrations for different reasons. What’s compelling about their partnership from my standpoint as a writer is how their characters illustrate the universality of what both truth and justice means.
Aside from the unnamed mythological horror, the apparent “big bad” in the book is the private military company Verge and its security officer Decker Marce. What about a private military company made them an easy choice for the more human enemy of this book?
MM: I’ve mentioned this before elsewhere, but I’ve long been against private militaries. Our entire purpose for war, allegedly, is sold upon the notion of us being peacekeepers. The very idea of private militaries undermines this entire concept because they’re mercenaries, plain and simple. And mercenaries profit off of war and strife. So if there’s peace, then that’s not exactly good business for the private military complex, is it?
Ultimately, what these companies do, in my opinion, is tear off the guise of the political concept that we don’t go to war over anything but money. War is business–oil, security firms, rebuilding contracts, it’s all about lucrative dealings and very little else. Maybe there’s a shred of integrity there, somewhere, but overall, I don’t see a whole lot. Not only that, but the actions of these military companies are so egregious and with no oversight whatsoever. Their above local laws and our own government refuses to police them (for obvious reasons, in that they’re the ones contracting them out). I urge anyone interested in this subject to read Jeremy Scahill’s amazing book on Blackwater, probably the most extreme example of the poison of private military companies. It’s pretty horrifying.
And, as a side note–we’re starting to see this philosophy as armed soldiers/police as goons of the powered interests rather than genuine peacekeepers take hold here in the United States as well. Look at Ferguson and countless other examples of municipalities taking “to protect and serve” to hostile ends. No good comes of this. None.
“Burning Fields” deals with some pretty serious stuff when you get beyond the fictional horror aspect of it. How much research did you guys do as you delved into the region around Kirkuk, its history, private military companies, and more?
MM: A lot. I was already well versed on private military companies. One of my good friends, Eric Stoner, is a brilliant journalist who was a researcher/assistant to Scahill on his Blackwater book. Eric has done great writing of his own as well, particularly through the website he founded, Waging Nonviolence. I’ve read Scahill’s book, watched lots of interviews with him, as well as dove into other perspectives on private military companies. As mentioned before, we boned up plenty on Kirkuk, local culture and politics, and I studied the “Qur’an” to get a sense of the spirituality. Then there’s the general poking around, trying to get a feel for Iraq and the war, as well as the aftermath. I dove into Vice, Harper’s, and other sources for great, smart journalism that tells the story you don’t get on CNN/FOX.
Continued belowTD: I followed Mike’s queues with Scahill’s book, listening to it on audio and then a couple of lectures he hosted which are available on youtube. I visited several PMC websites which just angered me. I mean – company logo onesies for infants in their “Gear Shop” was sickening. Then I mainly focused upon Mesopotamian mythology.
The Middle East is constantly in the news for various terrorist attacks, civil wars, and even our own military presence there. How much of the very real events are you incorporating into “Burning Fields” and what, if any, aspects are you shying away from?
TD: Thus far, there was only one faction we elected not to include in “Burning Fields”. They claim a presence in Iraq, and representing them in the series would be very factual, but in the end we decided their inclusion was maybe too precise. This is a work of fiction after all. Our private military companies – Verge and Carapace while modeled after some very notoriously well-known outfits, are completely fictional. What we found ultimately in that one decision was that it simply freed us up to focus and strengthen other aspects of the story. This is where good editorial direction comes into play. Just having that objective sounding board helps light the path sometimes.
MM: Some, as much as possible. Tim and I are very, very sensitive to capturing that culture as accurately as possible and getting the details right. There is definitely mention of the contentions in the area and its current state as a Kurd-controlled region. We both examined the politics of the area through some deep research and we did our best to understand the more personal details via readings of the Qur’an. And since we’re dealing with private militaries, there’s of course the spectre of their atrocities hanging over everything, namely the Nisour Square massacre.
We truly did our best, and our only hope is we got as much right as possible.
