Both stories were based upon research by the
Christic Institute, who initiated the work.
Joyce Brabner, then married to
Harvey Pekar, had already helped co-ordinate
Real War Stories with Eclipse Comics and the
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, and planned
Brought to Light as a thematic follow-up. Eclipse publisher
Dean Mullaney and editor-in-chief
Cat Yronwode first attempted to get
Chuck Dixon, writer of politically charged stories for
Airboy, involved but he considered the Institute "
far-left" and considered that a lot of their theories strayed into "
aluminium foil hat territory".
Alan Moore,
Bill Sienkiewicz and
Tom Yeates contributed to the book, which was co-published with
Warner Books and was distributed to mainstream bookstores. In an interview with the British magazine
Escape, Moore noted "I'm humanizing these vast subjects by having the story narrated by a shadowy figure in a bar... the CIA eagle. The reader sits next to this hideous representation of America’s covert warfare activities that spills its whole life story, as drunks are prone to do in bars." Sienkiewicz explained his involvement by telling
Amazing Heroes "I think people are really turning a blind eye to ''[the CIA's involvement in foreign government affairs]'', the cocaine and everything else, and I think it's important that they be made a little more aware of what's going on. This book will do that, inform them, and hopefully do it entertainingly. I feel that if it's not the most important series or book I've done, it's damn near up there." The novel brought coverage in
Mother Jones,
Interview and
Vanity Fair, something Brabner felt was important to help spread word about the events. The book was initially set to be published on 11 November 1988 before delays pushed it back to 13 December. Eclipse arranged for Tom Yeates to sign copies of the book in ''
Cody's Books'' in
Berkeley, California on the first day of the
Oliver North trial. ==Contents==