A comic book about the trial Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private facing 22 charges for providing classified material to WikiLeaks, is being created from the courtroom by a WikiLeaks activist.

Scheduled for release in October by OR Books, Clark Stoeckley's The United States vs PFC Bradley Manning: A Graphic Account from Inside the Courtroom combines illustrations of the topics being discussed with actual trial transcripts.

“No other sketch artists are coming to the trial here in Fort Meade regularly. I’m here all the time,” Stoeckley tells The Raw Story. “I want to record every single witness and create a visual record of what’s going on so that people can put faces to transcripts. I’m trying to capture the atmosphere in the courtroom and the characters who are part of the story … I’m doing this in a style that’s never been used in courtroom sketch art.”

Drawing and writing in real time from inside the courtroom, artist and WikiLeaks activist Clark Stoeckley here captures first-hand the extraordinary drama of The United States vs. PFC Bradley Manning, one of the most important and secretive trials in American history.

In the course of the trial, Private Manning insists that his release of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs to WikiLeaks was an act of conscience, justified by the urgent need to reveal to the world the atrocities committed by the US military in the ostensible cause of freedom. At the prosecution table, military lawyers for the American government seek to set an example and discourage future whistle blowers by locking away Manning for decades, possibly the rest of his life.

Stoeckley’s vivid sketches from inside the court and beyond, together with carefully selected transcripts of the proceedings, trace the arguments as they move back and forth between the defence and the prosecution. His rendering of the trial provides both a vital record and a uniquely compelling read.

Publication October 2013 • 140 pages, fully illustrated in black & white • ebook with color illustrations

Paperback ISBN 978-1-939293-27-5 • Ebook ISBN 978-1-939293-28-2