Thanks to everyone who came out last night to our kick-off signing at the soon-to-be defunct Astor Place Barnes & Noble. It was slightly surreal to be sipping a Starbucks ice tea while showing a slide of the book’s opening scene. Also, thanks for everyone who made the after-party at Sutra a roaring success. Pics to come.
In addition to providing the planet with a shiny gift-worthy hardcover book, we are also debuting, as per our readers’ requests, a limited edition Dan Rather “The frequency is courage” tee-shirt. Designed by our friends at Grand Theft Country and ethically-produced by Because Clothing, the shirt feature’s Jimmy’s mentor in action in war-torn Iraq. Mens and womens styles, in all sizes, available for a limited time. Be the first on your block to sport the West Texas wrangler himself. Click the pic to order:

Thanks so much to my old friend Alison Stewart for helping us officially launch the book here in the U.S. this morning. If you missed our glorious American debut, you can stream the segment at www.npr.org/bryantpark now or download it via iTunes later in the day.

Next up is another of my favorite ladies in broadcasting, Rachel Maddow. I’m on tonight at 7:30 PM EST on Air America stations across the country. Go here to listen live. - Anthony

Reports are coming in of SHOOTING WAR sighted in the wild at both bookstores and comic shops (apparently Amazon is already shipping copies as well). To support our Nov. 19th launch date, Anthony and I will be doing two signings, some radio interviews and throwing a kick-ass party, click image to see large and check the Book Tour sidebar for more complete tour info.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the UK book launch at the Institute for Contemporary Art. The event was part of the Comica Festival, hosted by our friend and uber-ally Paul Gravett. Thank you Paul for a great kick-off. In other UK news, Dan and I tapped a segment for Sky News’ Channel Five News which should air sometime this week. We’ll keep you posted. In addition, I’m on sky.com later today. Ironic that the only TV coverage we’re getting here is from a Murdoch-owned network.

New York Magazine’s Culture Vulture blog excerpts the book: “Today on the Comics Page, we’re proud to present an excerpt from Shooting War, an expansion of the acclaimed Webcomic by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman. Fierce, shocking, over-the-top, and wickedly smart, the new and improved book will be published later this month by Grand Central Publishing.”

We’re pleased to announce that Shooting War artist Dan Goldman is now officially a charter member of the IJC (International Jewish Conspiracy). That’s right, our friends at Heeb magazine have pegged him as one of their “Heeb 100.” Check it here. Come celebrate with us and the rest of the newly tapped chosen few at the Heeb 100 party in NYC Tuesday night at . Next week, Dan and I hit London to kick off the book’s UK release. Check the book tour page for more info.

We’ve got a glowing full-page review in the “Pet of the Year Round-Up” Issue that hits the stands any day now; just wink at your newsstand clerk and tell him you read it for their comic reviews. Click to magnifisize.

We got our first big UK review in, of all places, the venerable Financial Times. First the Wall Street Journal, now this. What is it about business papers and our book? I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. Here’s a snip:

“[Dan Goldman] employs the computer to the full, overlaying figures on photo backgrounds and manipulating everything with software effects. The result is an eye-frazzling, mind-warping collage, like a sequence of Banksy murals, all aglow with doomy orange hues…The satire is ferocious. At one point a soon-to-be Islamic martyr scoffs junk food, saying, ‘This burger makes me feel sated yet vaguely disgusted with myself. What I imagine it feels like to be an American every day.’ Moments like this, both terrifyingly plausible and plausibly terrifying, abound, as Lappe extrapolates from current events to warn how White House foreign policy may well take us all to hell. Originally free online, this strip deserves its enshrinement between hard covers.”

Shooting War makes a brief, but noteworthy, appearance in the Wall Street Journal, officially solidifying that The Man has taken notice of our exploits.

For those of you in the UK, details about our Nov. 6th panel at the Comica festival at Londton’s Institute of Contemporary Art have been announced. Our ever-gracious host Paul Gravett has titled the event: Iraq: The Graphic War, Today and in 2011 and describes it as such:

Campaigning charity War On Want’s Iraq: Operation Corporate Takeover is a documentary comic in which Sean Michael Wilson and Lee O’Connor expose how Western companies are profiting from the occupation, while New Yorkers Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman project the war’s technology, media coverage and paranoia to the year 2011 in the provocative Shooting War from Weidenfeld & Nicholson.