As the aftermath of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation plays out in federal court, three Portlanders want to tell the story of the 40-day Oregon standoff as a 10-episode graphic novel.

"American Malheur" is a collaboration between "Terra Tempo" creators David Shapiro and Christopher Herndon and Leah Sottile, a freelancer who's written for Vice, The Washington Post and Willamette Week.

They've got it started. Now all they need is a publisher.

Shapiro told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the project is about more than the drama that unfolded in Harney County earlier this year. Instead, he says, it takes the event and uses it to contextualize the rash of right-wing extremism that took root during the Wild West days of the 1800s and has come to a head in this year's race for the White House.

"I think it's a matter of understanding the nation's history," he said. "This kicked off 2016, which is going to be seen as a year of great change in American history."

"American Malheur" opens in the final hours of the standoff in Harney County. Initial panels illustrate David Fry's final radio conversation with federal agents before his surrender. The book then flashes back to Steens Mountain nearly 17 years earlier -- the site where Dwight and Steve Hammond had committed arson to cover up a poaching expedition.

The cover for the first part of 'American Malheur.'

From there, Shapiro, Herndon and Sottile explore westward expansion in a 10-part saga that's equal parts history lesson and journalistic experiment. In fact, one of the things Shapiro said has made it tough to shop around to major publishers is that his story doesn't take sides.

"We took a real journalistic approach of presenting just the facts. I don't think that we were completely neutral, either," he said. "But part of the feedback we got was 'you're making them look good.'"

Biographical details about the book's cast would prove the opposite, Shapiro said. Some of the militant occupiers were known for their anti-Islamic sentiments. Still others invoked their religion as justification for the standoff.

"The character histories -- they're really not that good. A lot of them come from this place of hatred and bigotry," Shapiro said. "I don't know what else to do but present it and say, 'Hey, this is a crazy segment of society and we really need to look at it.'"

The occupation, he said, is the perfect vessel to explore America's right-wing populist movement. It's an aspect of the country's culture that has long fascinated the Portland transplant.

What's most striking about the Malheur occupation is that it illuminated the struggles of a part of the country that's often left out of national conversations.

"The most unrepresented part of Oregon was in the national spotlight," Shapiro said. "And this was not an Oregon movement. It was a movement that was brought to Oregon."

He wants "American Malheur" to act as both a history lesson and an account of the Oregon standoff. Movements like this don't happen in a vacuum and Shapiro wants to help Americans understand the underlying issues that birthed the Malheur occupation.

"I would hope for a lot of moments of 'ah-ha. I didn't know that. I didn't see that,'" he said.

And even though he has experience producing his own graphic novels, he wants to hand off distribution duties to a bigger publishing house. Instead of selling in the thousands, Shapiro said he wants to reach tens of thousands.

"We need somebody with the skills of marketing," he said. "If we had an actual editor overseeing this and a marketing team pushing it out, it would go really far."

So far, he, Herndon and Sottile have sent their pitch to three firms. Two have turned it down and another is mulling it over. The three artists originally wanted to drop the first issue in early September, in the midst of the presidential election.

It doesn't look like that will happen, although Shapiro is still hoping for a big release. The graphic novel would do much to contextualize the current political climate, he said. After all, many of the occupation's supporters also back Donald Trump in the presidential race.

"When things line up like that, it's really interesting to think of it," he said.

--Eder Campuzano

503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com