Jon Common looks at the Nightly News.

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The Nightly News

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Publisher: Image

Author/Artist: Jonathan Hickman

Six issue limited series

The Nightly New is an innovative and beautiful piece of sequential art. Jonathan Hickman delivers a visually stunning and intelligently written story. Each panel is a masterpiece of stimulation: bold images, smooth dialogue and a multitude of facts to educate, enlighten or terrify the reader. This comic is the perfect example of creative evolution and sets a high standard for other artists in the industry.

The focus of the book will at first seem to be one of media responsibility, or lack there of. The main character, John Guyton, is a financial manager who is wrongly accused by the press and the following smear campaign results in the loss of his job and the rest of his life is left in ruins.

He's contacted by an organization that's waging a no-holds-barred war on the media and given the chance to exact revenge for the wrongs committed against him. As the story progresses he becomes the central figure of the terrorist organization, the Hand, answering only to the mysterious Voice who gives the group their directives.

As the story unfolds the terrorists use car bombs and snipers to wage their war through a series of dramatic public executions and send the media industry scrambling to deal with the attacks. Unsure as to how to handle the situation the media bosses call in political favours and consider various methods of cover up, anything but actually acknowledging or dealing with the issues.

As the story winds down to its conclusion the methods of the Voice come under question. Many of the freedom fighters (terrorists) begin to see their war on the media is as corrupt or ill-guided as the institution they fight. They come to the conclusion that the ends do not justify the means, that violence begets violence and that tyranny's oppressive nature creates a no-win situation for everyone involved.

This book warns of the corruptions and abuses of those in power, but draws the reader to look closely at the motivations and methods of those opposing such institutions and firmly places responsibility for one's actions on the individual.

The Nightly News is available in trade paperback format, published by Image, or back issues may be found at any quality comic shop.