About this project

"Eric Nkumu Bunita went to war armed only with some water and herbs he believed would protect him from gunfire," the Associated Press reports. "The skinny 27-year-old's career as a fighter for Congo's newest rebel movement lasted a mere four weeks. Captured after the group launched an attack on northwest Equateur's provincial capital, Nkumu can now only point to two gunshot wounds that mark his upper arm."

Bunita is just one of millions of Congolese caught up in one of the world's bloodiest and, for Westerners, least understood conflicts. Since the mid-1990s, a complex web of political rebellions, resource wars and apocalyptic religious crusades has killed at least 700,000 people and displaced millions in this impoverished Central African nation.

In an effort to help outsiders understand the conflict, and perhaps begin making a difference for its victims, I will travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo in September, for a period of six weeks. When I return to the U.S., I will write and publish a graphic novel about the conflict. The book will serve as a sort of follow-up to my previous graphic novels WAR FIX (NBM, 2006) and WAR IS BORING (New American Library, 2010).

It won't be easy and it won't be cheap. I estimate the cost at around $10,000. I am asking Kickstarter fans to contribute $1,000 to cover a portion of my air fare. Other big expenses include internal transportation, lodging, security and interpreters.

I will begin in the east, where rebellions such as Bunita's have long plagued both DRC and neighboring Republic of Congo. Shortages of resources and arable land exacerbate political tension rooted in ancient ethnic rivalries. Corruption and years of poor governance mean many everyday Congolese feel little loyalty to their government and quickly resort to violence to resolve disputes.

Only complicating the region's web of conflicts, in recent years the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan Christian fundamentalist group, has taken root in Congo's jungles. Propelled by a mad vision of a world on the brink of apocalypse, the LRA destroys entire villages, enslaves the boys, rapes the women and drives hordes of refugees before it.

In the wake of the LRA's arrival from locations east, the Ugandan army and elements of the new U.S. Africa Command have occasionally deployed into DRC. The Americans' contributions are small but vital. They train the Ugandan and Congolese troops in the tactics they'll need to find, fix and defeat the LRA.

Upon arriving in eastern DRC in September, I will observe a U.S.-led military exercise. Following that, I will accompany a band of U.N. peacekeepers into the jungle to see the conflict zone firsthand and speak to war victims. Finally, I will fly to the capital of Kinshasa to interview government leaders and aid workers about Congo's prospects for peace.

One of my main focuses will be the conflict's effects on women and children. In the LRA and other armed groups, boy soldiers do much of the fighting. They are enslaved upon capture or even sold into armed service by their desperate parents. Girls, too, are held as sex toys or domestic slaves. Adult women are simply raped and discarded.

My comic book will depict all of this, in a way that is fresh, powerful and accessible. But it won't happen without your support. Together, we can draw some attention to Congo's bloody conflict and hopefully, in a small way, begin making a case for peace. Please contribute.

(Soldier art by Matt Bors.)