By d. emerson eddy — This is not a dream.

Think of an America that has a hand in the pies of running drugs and weapons. An America propped up by foreign governments fueled through backroom deals to take down “socialists” and “communists” to set up cola factories as a front for money-laundering and running that contraband. An America that willingly engages in black ops operations to assassinate foreign leaders. Unthinkable, right? Impossible, no? This is not America. Sha la la la la. Except it is, as lain out in Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz's tale, Shadowplay – The Secret Team, in the flip book Brought to Light.

The scales may have fallen from our eyes now and we're far more cynical and distrusting of our governments and intelligence agencies across the world, but it could be argued that during the Cold War, trust in government was paramount. Through the '80s, the Christic Institute worked to build a case against the actions of the CIA and their allies during the Iran-Contra scandal. It ultimately failed, but their findings were used by Moore here to build a timeline of actions and events from the time of the intelligence agency's early days through to their actions in Iran and Nicaragua.

Moore and Sienkiewicz bring us into a seedy bar, where a loud, abrasive anthropomorphic eagle begins to regale us with his dealings as a representative of the Company (the CIA) throughout many of their black ops operations. It's presented largely as a monologue from the Company man, giving us the facts in a similar manner to the occult walking tour that Moore and Eddie Campbell present in From Hell. It's a fascinating history of the darker side of American intelligence.

The artwork from Bill Sienkiewicz is stunning. I think the mid-to-late '80s saw some of Sienkiewicz's most innovative, gorgeous work as he was really pushing the envelope with his style and methods of storytelling. New Mutants, Daredevil: Love & War, Elektra: Assassin, and Stray Toasters all came out during this period and they're just incredible. During this period, and here in Shadowplay, Sienkiewicz takes his grounding in comics storytelling from influences like Neal Adams and he dials up the exaggeration, the color choices, and caricature-like designs reminiscent of Ralph Steadman, Sergio Toppi, and Barron Storey. It results in a mix of hyper-realism and surrealism that is just a visual treat. When you combine the stylized animal character of an anthropomorphized American bald eagle to represent the Company Man with lush painted colors and a unique, varied hand lettering for the dialogue, the result is a work that looks unlike anything else out there and instantly transports you into the jingoistic and seedy underworld of the CIA's corruption.

To make things weirder, there's an audio version of this out there as well that was released about a decade later. It fit well with the monologue-like nature of the story and kind of fit in with the spoken word performances of the likes of The Highbury Working, The Birth Caul, and Snakes & Ladders, the latter two of which were adapted to comics by Moore's From Hell collaborator, Eddie Campbell.

While Shadowplay by Moore and Sienkiewicz highlights some of the things that the US brought to the dance and shaped American intelligence for decades, weird happenings, corruption, shady business deals, odd international alliances and questionable deaths still occur today, whether sanctioned officially by the US government or kept at arms length. All you have to do to keep the Company running and accept their offer is to show apathy. Capitulate. Turn a blind eye. Don't do that. American citizens still have an opportunity and a duty to try their damnedest to shape the future of their country through action and voice. If you've not already done so, use your voice tomorrow. Vote.

This is not a dream.

Brought to Light: Shadowplay - The Secret Team

Brought to Light: Shadowplay – The Secret Team
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Publisher: Eclipse
Release Date: November 1988
Price: Not available digitally

Check out more classic comics of the week from d. emerson eddy!

d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.