Thank-you to everyone who has helped make this project a success!
If you are looking to pre-order a book, please visit The Invisible War web page.
sincerely, Gregory, Briony, Ben, Ailsa & Jeremy.

p.s. here's a link to the latest article about The Invisible War, published in The Canberra Times.

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Here's a snippet of what author Dorion Sagan said in his review of The Invisible War on Science Book a Day:
"Truth is stranger than fiction and scientific truth is stranger than science fiction. The Invisible War breaks ground on so many fronts...as to make it a candidate for the first truly modern, 21^st century graphic novel."

WHAT IS THE INVISIBLE WAR?
Set on the Western Front in 1916, this innovative graphic novel is inspired by new scientific discoveries about the protective roles of viruses and bacteria living within our mucus.
You can download an excerpt here.


We are introduced to Annie, an Australian nurse who faces the filth and horror of WWI and, simultaneously, we follow a journey into her body and bear witness to a battle between ancient microbial enemies.


"THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND"
Once we enter the gut, the story describes a newly discovered symbiotic relationship that exists between humans and their tiny resident bacteriophages (bacteria-eating viruses). Co-author of The Invisible War, Dr. Jeremy Barr explains "Bacteriophage Adherence to Mucus — or BAM — is a new model of immunity, which emphasizes the important role bacteriophage viruses play in protecting the body from invading pathogens. This discovery not only proposes a new immune system but also demonstrates the first symbiotic relationship between viruses and animals."



AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
The Invisible War represents a new direction in interdisciplinary learning, combining Science and History content, woven together within the graphic novel format. In addition to the 64-page action-packed story, there is an an explanation section providing further information about the history and science behind the story (all fact-checked by the experts!)
 
After we officially launch The Invisible War in August, it will retail at $30-35 (excluding postage) – so these current prices are bargain...especially the multi-packs!
Why not grab a copy for yourself and one for the school library?
**ANZAC SPECIAL** Teachers and Librarians in Australia and New Zealand - we've specially created a 10 x pack and a 25 x pack School Edition for your classroom.
PLUS - we have also created free teaching resources (links below).

APPROVED BY STUDENTS
We have tested the book in six different high school classrooms - including Science, History and English - across four different schools in Victoria. The student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we can also report that almost all students said they would prefer to read a printed copy rather than a digitial version of the graphic novel
(so much for the digital revolution...?)
 


Here are a few of their thoughts about The Invisible War:
- "You really feel the connection to the seriousness of the internal happenings and the fact that it is a kind of parallel to the battle between people in the first world war." Christa, 14.
- "It shows and tells..." Harry, 14.
- "If you're into science, history and art mushed together, you will like it." Lucia, 12.
- "A WW1 based graphic novel that is not just entertaining but …teaches you things." Robert, 14.
- "A battle on both small and large scales which explores the body as well as the living conditions in WWI." Eddie, 13.
- "A fun informative graphic comic book, full of easy to read and understand facts about viruses and how they work." Nelia, 16.


TEACHING RESOURCES
We have developed a set of Student Activity Booklets, based on The Invisible War, to accompany the 10 x school pack rewards.
Each Activity Booklet contains over a dozen different activities for high school classroomss, in easy to download and use PDF format.
Download: History & English Activity Booklet
Download: Science Activity Booklet


THE BOOK TEAM
This project is a collaboration between artists, scientists, writers, educators and designers, with a core creative team of:


In addition, The Invisible War would not have been as historically and scientifically accurate as it is, without the invaluable advice given by: Dr. Francois-Xavier Weill (Institut Pasteur/University of Cambridge), Prof. Philippe Sansonetti (Institut Pasteur), Dr. Laurent Debarbieux (Institut Pasteur), Dr. Kathryn Holt (University of Melbourne), Dr. Merry Youle and Dr. Kirsty Harris (University of Melbourne).

Funding Partners

The majority of the funds raised through Pozible will go towards the printing and the postage of The Invisible War.
Here’s an approximate breakdown of how we plan to spend the money we raise:
Printing of The Invisible War $15,050
Postage $8,317
Pozible Fee (4%) $1,000
Transaction Fees (3%) $750
Total (= Pozible Target) $25,117

PRINTED LOCALLY - IN MELBOURNE
Unlike most publishers, who outsource their printing to China, The Invisible War will be printed in Australia by Arena Printing, who use 100% green energy, 100% recycled paper and vegetable inks.

PLUS, thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia’s MATCH program, every dollar you give to this campaign will be matched dollar for dollar up to $8650, provided we reach our Pozible campaign target!
This MATCH co-funding will support:
- the promotion and hosting of the book launch in the beautiful Royal Society of Victoria building on Saturday August 20;
- ongoing project overheads, like website fees, rental fees, bookkeeping fees, insurance, etc; and
- the conversion from the digital version of The Invisible War to a print-ready file by our amazing graphic designer.

Since the major part of the project – creating the book – is already complete, the main hurdle remains to raise the funds to bring our beautiful graphic novel into physical reality.
Once printed, we will post the book to our amazing Pozible supporters in June, well ahead of our official book launch on August 20^th.