Posts
An Absolute Atheist Looks at Christian Comic Books (Prelude)
Okay, here's the thing:
I've decided to read whole runs of Christian comic books.
Why?
Why not!
There's more out there than any non-Christian (or casual Christian) suspects, so this could be quite the ongoing blog topic for me. It'll only be in-between all my other reviews, articles, debates, soap-box diatribes, and unrepentant jeremiads, but there should be, I'd say, one per week. Likely, I'll branch out into comics that are embedded within other religions as well, though these aren't as prevalent, Mike Allred's 12-book adaptation of the Books of Mormon is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe this is because other religions aren't as steeped in zealous recruiting techniques as Christians. Maybe I'll find an answer to this divide as I go.
Honestly? As a devout atheist, I have no idea what I'm getting into here. This is my version of the Amish "wild years", only in reverse - I'll delve into religious waters for a year or two, then see what I think at the end. Who knows? Maybe I'll get **cked in the head and turn, like a vampire.
Anywho, I'll be starting with one of the most successfully mainstream Christian books:
POWERMARK
This puppy was distributed through the holy grail (pun intended) of comic distributors, Diamond, which I think was a feat repeated only by the Christ-approved series Archangels: The Saga.
I'm starting with this one for a number of reasons:
1) It's vaguely super-heroish, meaning it should the most comparable to mainstream comics as a whole.
2) It's complete and has an end - the series ran for 24 issues, concluding it's story with the 24th. There's a second series (Powermark: Seeker Series) but the first did finish what it began, and that makes me feel it's accessible, more so than any other, and so a good place to start.
3) It's drawn by 90's Spider-man artist Steven Butler, who once upon a time was one of the absolute best. He was a favorite of mine back in high school, and this is where he disappeared to. So I'm curious on a personal level.
4) It's directly aimed at youth ages 8-14, the story of comic itself to bring youth back to Christianity. As I suspect all religious storytelling to be just this side of brainwashing (which all advertising is - I'm not claiming this to be a singularly religious conceit), Powermark may be the best book to start with, a mainstream package that looks alluring, even to me, aimed to convince people like me (albeit younger) to come "back to" or "over to" Christianity. This feels like a good ground zero for me to dissect and move to other books from, which may or may not be as accessible to the non-religious.
Okay, so I've got issue #1 in my hands. I'll hopefully have more to say on this within the week!
(Oh, man...what the hell am I doing...?)
TO BE CONTINUED...
0 Comments:
Post a Comment