Saturday is Free Comic Book Day

It's Lucky again, and I hate it when Deej or Snuffles sit around reading comic books and don't talk to me or even forget to feed me and don't do the housework or the cooking or help around here at all. It's a good thing I have Phenny and Frederick or this place would be a mess.

Anyway, Deej and Snuffles are sure to be out of it this Saturday, because Saturday is Free Comic Book Day (which you can read about here), when many bookstores give away free comics as a promotion.

I thought I could escape the event this year because the Shady Bookstore Down the Street had closed its doors, but as it turns out, it immediately opened its doors again at another location and became the Shady Bookstore a Little Further Down the Street.

Umm...

12

Apparently, I can't beat up too many five-year-olds, probably because I was morally uncomfortable with the whole beating-up-five-year-olds thing in the first place. However, check out the score for Snuffles the Dragon:

39

When I asked Snuffles how he achieved this high score, he replied, "Well, y'know, I'm okay with the whole thing. I read a lot of comics in which little kids can kick some serious awesome."

News from the Fish Bowl: An Addendum

BIBLE AND COMICS

A couple days ago, Deej posted a press release for a comic called Mecha Manga Bible Heroes. Since then, Snuffles has been poking around and has found a number of other "manga" adaptations of Scripture, including The Manga Bible and Manga Messiah. Snuffles and Deej argued over the subject and afterwards had the following comments:

D. G. D.: I'll stick with what I said before; Mecha Manga Bible Heroes may have a good idea in it, but I don't think it's a good idea to simply tell the biblical stories straight with mechs and monsters thrown in. Such a massive alteration to the stories' background calls for a massive revamping of the stories. To really make Bible Heroes worthwhile, I think the writer should consider expanding the biblical stories and making the biblical heroes into fully developed characters. I hope, too, that the mecha technology and the world are fully developed and not merely atmospheric flourishes. I don't see the point of putting stories from the Bible into an sf setting if that setting is meaningless.

I would point readers again to Rod Espinosa's Amerimanga, Neotopia, which will be interesting to compare with the first issue of Bible Heroes, "David vs. Goliath." Neotopia also features aliens, mechs, manga-influenced artwork, and the story of David and Goliath with Goliath played by a mech, but all of it is couched in a fully developed world and a larger narrative.

To stick close to the biblical narrative in a mecha setting while neither being slavish to the Scriptures nor merely using biblical motifs in an essentially non-biblical story, a writer could do something like the following: the tale of David and Goliath could be the first encounter of the Hebrews with a superior alien mech technology; after defeating the robotic Goliath, David removes its mechanical head and some of its weapons and carries them to the Temple so that the priests might study them and build their own mechs; over several generations, this developing mecha technology leads to the construction of a prototype super-mech, but unfortunately, it is developed too late for use against the invading Babylonians; however, after the exile, Judas Maccabeus discovers this super-mech hidden away in a secret cave in Jerusalem and uses it in his battles against Antiochus. Such a story sticks more-or-less to the biblical narrative but makes the introduction of aliens and mechs relevant to the overall story, transforming the biblical histories into a generational mecha adventure.

But for those who are skeptical of the entire Bible-to-sequential-art idea, I will note that it is nothing new. Comic book Bibles are a Medieval invention, not a modern one. The so-called Biblia Pauperum or "poor-man's Bible" is essentially a collection of biblical stories told in illustrated panels.

Snuffles the Dragon: Yes, yes, all that, but let's look at these titles: Mecha Manga Bible Heroes, Manga Bible, and Manga Messiah. There's a desperate crying out here: "Look! It's manga! Really!" Why in the world would anyone put manga in a title? Especially when none of these is really manga.

I know Deej is more relaxed on this issue than I am, but honestly, manga is a Japanese word referring to a Japanese product. It is not an art style. An American comic in which the characters have big eyes should not be called manga. The stereotypical style of Japanese comics, in which this so-called "Amerimanga" is drawn, is not the only style of Japanese comics. Mecha Manga-Influenced Bible Heroes or Manga-Inspired Bible would be more accurate titles. Besides, when I see a book called Manga Bible, I naturally expect it to be a book about manga.

For a list of links to other sites and blogs that have posted about Mecha Manga Bible Heroes, see Enlightened Words.

Mecha Manga Bible Heroes

We just got a press kit from JMG Studio, which is producing a new comic that might interest our readers. Here's the press release with some illustrations:

THE COOLEST COMIC BOOK YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER EVER CONFISCATED!

New Comic Series Brings ‘New Twist’ to ‘Old Testament’

FLANDERS, NJ (February 5, 2008) – JMG Comics, a division of JMG Studios is pleased to announce the upcoming release of its first comic book series, MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES.

MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES brings classic bible heroes to life in a whole new way! Drawn in the popular manga style and featuring “mecha” (robots), a mainstay of manga, this new series is sure to satisfy fans of imaginative action and adventure. The characters, themes and stories remain the same, only the setting has changed – to a futuristic world of aliens, robots and advanced technology!


“Just like modernized versions of Shakespeare's plays, by taking a solid, meaningful story and translating its elements as faithfully as possible into a new setting, we hope to bring out some of the more amazing details that might get missed by today's readers,” said co-writer Tom Hall.

The first issue, shipping in May, re-imagines the legendary tale of David, the shepherd boy who took down the giant, Goliath. The 32-page, full-color comic book retails for $2.25 US.

“David is a young kid who has to go toe-to-toe with a giant super robot covered in every conceivable type of weapon,” said Hall. “Other than that, everything is what the Bible describes, down to the small details that most versions of the tale gloss over.”


“The series is designed to appeal to anyone, whether religious or not” said Managing Editor Paul Castiglia, a veteran comic book writer and editor who has worked for Archie Comics among other notable comic publishers. “Our aim was to create an all-ages series with broad appeal, so that even those who consider the bible ‘mythology’ on par with Greek and Roman legends may embrace it.”

“The stories of the Old Testament are universal – they can be found among several religions and cultures. Our creative team consists of Christians who approach the material with a Christian worldview and we’ve strived to make this the coolest comic book your Sunday School teacher ever confiscated!”


He added that the series is meant to appeal to anyone who enjoys manga (especially “mecha”), video game heroes like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, Transformers and other robot toys, and the animated versions of DC and Marvel superheroes.

The creative team for MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES #1: DAVID VS. GOLIATH includes writers Tom Hall (King, Robot 13) & Joey Endres (Megazeen), with pencils and inks by Thom “Kneon Transitt” Pratt (Disney) and colors and letters by Daniel Bradford (King, Robot 13). Also included are bonus comic strips by popular Australian writer/artist Dean Rankine. Each issue features fully painted covers by fan-favorite Jeff Slemons, who has done covers for several comic book publishers and whose work has been featured in successful ad campaigns. The series is edited by Paul Castiglia (Archie, DC, Dark Horse, Antarctic Press). JMG Studios owner John-Marc Grob (Marvel, owner-producer of FriendFish and various animation projects) is editor-in-chief.

Future issues will present the the further adventures of David as well as classic tales of such bible heroes as Daniel, Joseph, Jonah and others. Other series are in development, including “Beyond,” a horror/sci-fi/fantasy anthology aimed at older teens and beyond.

ANCHOR DISTRIBUTION is the exclusive distributor for the initial launch of MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES. Anchor will handle distribution for comic shops, Christian bookstores, libraries, churches, schools and other retailers. JMG Studios will provide flyers and wall posters for free upon request, and a customized ashcan at a portion of cost to help promote the comic book. For ordering and promotional information email paulc@jmgstudio.net

While Anchor will also handle reorders, JMG Comics is currently exploring partnering with additional reorder distributors.

MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES can be found on the Internet at http://www.mmbibleheroes.com/ and www.myspace.com/mechamangabibleheroes

For press, licensing/merchandising, movie/TV rights and all other inquiries, please email paulc@jmgstudio.net

MECHA-MANGA BIBLE HEROES 1: DAVID VS. GOLIATH, ships May, 2008. 32-page, full-color comic, $2.25 US.

MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES Copyright © 2007, 2008 by Paul Castiglia, Tom Hall, Joey Endres, Jeff Slemons, Thom Pratt, Daniel Bradford. All rights reserved.

Okay, I can see this. Bible comics are nothing new, and Christian Amerimanga is nothing new, either (see Serenity if you don't believe me).

If I were to make a complaint, something I probably shouldn't do about a press release, it is that they are telling the stories as authentically as possible but giving them a sci-fi veneer. The introduction of mechs into the biblical world, however, would produce a number of complications; I would prefer a comic that elaborates the sparse biblical tales in order to explore the alien setting more fully. That being said, I am eagerly wondering how they will depict Deborah. I'm also thinking I should mention this to Old Testament Space Opera.

Comics Review: DinoWars

DinoWars Volume 1, written and illustrated by Rod Espinosa. Antarctic Press (San Antonio): 2007. Full color. $14.95. ISBN: 978-0-9787725-4-3.

I realize it's been a little while since we had a real honest-to-goodness book-without-pictures review on this blog, but bear with me. When a new Rod Espinosa comic comes in the mail, I drop everything and read it.

Espinosa, if I haven't made clear, is one of my favorite comic author/illustrators. His artwork is incredible and detailed, his stories are imaginative and wholesome, and his heroes (and even moreso, his heroines) are likable and entertaining.

That being said, I admit DinoWars is a disappointment. Although it delivers exactly what it promises--robotic dinosaurs shooting lasers out of their mouths--it doesn't deliver a lot else. The elements I expect in an Espinosa comic either aren't present or are unusually underdeveloped.

At least part of the problem is the story's heavy and obvious dependence on Transformers and Independence Day. The comic opens with a dashing astronaut hero, Hank Armstrong (first rule of comics: all astronauts will be named Buzz or Armstrong), whose mission to the moon is interrupted by the appearance of deadly dinosaur cyborgs. Though Hank manages to get his crew home safely, it isn't long before a gigantic spacecraft appears in the sky and begins disgorging legions of armed dinos, apparently bent on wiping humanity from the face of the planet.

Meanwhile, in the town of Nowhere, Texas (yeesh), Hank's old flame Debra McDonald gets home from her job at the diner to find a couple of small dinosaurs in her living room. She quickly learns that the dinosaurs left Earth 65 million years ago to escape the Ice Age (I assume Espinosa skimped on the research here) and have been hibernating in the asteroid belt. The dinosaurs have two factions: the Protosaurs, who want to make peace with humanity, and the Megasaurs, who want to destroy humanity.

You get the idea.

Perhaps the greatest drawback of this miniseries is that it's too short. It's not paginated, but it can't be much over a hundred pages, and most of those pages have three panels or less. As a result, most of the war promised in the title happens in the background. We have a few good shots of Hank, who smoothly transitions from astronaut to warrior, fighting street battles against armored stegosauri, but most of the war happens through set-up panels and narration.

The brevity not only means much of the action is backgrounded, but also means the plot itself is rushed. Hank and Debra run into each other and fall in love again with unnatural speed, and the story ends with a swift deus ex machina. Given the dependence of the basic storyline on Transformers, I would at least have expected to see a good battle between the Protosaurs and Megasaurs, but alas, it was not to be.

The story has at least one serious plot hole: Debra somehow manages to walk into a top-secret, heavily guarded meeting of the U.N., and nobody notices the two dinosaurs with her until she introduces them.

Most of Espinosa's comics happen in lavish otherworlds, which give him space to display his significant prowess at designing elaborate costumes and buildings and introducing fun fantasy characters. The real-world setting of DinoWars seems to limit him. Although the detailed artwork in the few battle scenes is incredible, it isn't nearly as impressive at the skirmish that climaxes The Courageous Princess or the massive battle that fills the fourth volume of Neotopia.

At least a few of you are thinking I'm asking too much of a comic book about a dinosaur-alien invasion, but I've learned that even goofball ideas--or perhaps I should say, especially goofball ideas--have plenty of dramatic mileage in the hands of an expert. Although Espinosa shows the same superb visual talent here that he has shown elsewhere, the story is disappointingly flat.

The robotic dinosaurs shooting lasers out of their mouths are still awesome, though.

The Sci Fi Catholic's Rating for DinoWars:

Myth Level: Medium-High {good premise, large-scale battle of sorts, some grand ideas)

Quality: Medium (superb full-color art coupled with ambitious but weak writing)

Ethics/Religion: High (nothing objectionable; some possible mild fanservice)

Warrior Nun Areala Volume 1 Reviewed

If Catholixploitation comics are your thing, you can head over to the blog Holy Heroes!!! where I have posted a review of the first collected volume of Ben Dunn's Warrior Nun Areala.

The Warrior Nuns work in standard, goofy comic book ways. To prepare for battle, Sister Shannon recites a Hail Mary (incorrectly), and then a magic sword appears in her hands while her regular habit is replaced by--*ahem*--a less restricting outfit. If you're annoyed that the nuns in your area wear pantsuits, you can at least be glad they don't dress like this. [more...]

Book Review: Legends from Darkwood: The Unicorn Hunters.

In a word, yuck.

Legends From Darkwood #1: The Unicorn Hunters, written by Christopher Reid and illustrated by John Kantz. Antarctic Press (San Antonio): 2004. 129 pages. $9.99. ISBN: 1-932453-49-0.

Deej is out of town doing his archaeologist thing. That means nobody is looking over my shoulder as I post to this blog. That means nobody is rewriting my posts after I've finished them. That means no one is "editing for content." That means I have no obligation to use that stupid rating scale. That means I can get revenge for when Deej called me a freeloader.

Okay, so the other day, the Deej goes and reviews children's Amerimanga and flaunts it in my face. So I think, hah, two can play at that game. And then I remember, oh yeah, he's right, I do hate Amerimanga. And Legends From Darkwood reminds me why.

So, let's break this down. This appears to be an attempt to take fairy tale and fantasy conventions and render them cynical and slightly raunchy. The story opens in Unicorn Town where a woman named Raynd uses her virginity to--shock and horror!--hunt unicorns because people find unicorn meat really tasty. Out to save the unicorns is young Rose, the spoiled daughter of the town's greedy mayor. When Rose decides the unicorn-hunting has to stop, she does the logical thing and tries to hire a hitman to have Raynd offed. When that doesn't work, she attacks Raynd with a surefire aphrodisiac bomb instead (apparently available at any pharmacy, even to minors). Rose's timing is poor, however, because a fed-up unicorn has just fed on human flesh, sold his soul to the devil, gained the ability to breathe fire, and prepared an attack on the town.

Unicorns, as most people know, are attracted to, or at least feel safe around, virgins. Christopher Reid, author of this comic, clearly believes in all sincerity that using virginity to kill unicorns is a novel idea. Unicorns trust virgins, right? So why not just kill the unicorn when it comes to her? Hah! They'll never see that coming!

Okay, it's no secret that I, a dragon, hate unicorns, and so the opening slaughter scene in this comic is kind of pleasant. (Unicorns are just so smarmy and so uppity, and besides, they hog all the good virgins.) But this isn't a new idea: people have been hunting unicorns with virgins for a long time (hasn't Reid heard of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries?). Probably the only remotely unique idea in this comic is in having the virgin do all the hunting and killing herself rather than acting merely as bait.

If Reid really wants this to be dark, edgy, and slightly raunchy, he wouldn't have to dig far into unicorn lore to find his material. It is a standard part of the lore that a virgin lures the unicorn to his doom and that the trusting beast rests his head in the virgin's lap. Medieval illustrations sometimes depict a unicorn in such a pose with a naked woman, a suggestive image sure to give a Freudian a spasm of joy. And according to Medieval Folklore, "an early Syrian [bestiary] is quite explicit: The unicorn approaches the virgin, 'throwing himself upon her. Then the girl offers him her breasts, and the animal begins to suck the breasts of the maiden and to conduct himself familiarly with her'" (vol 2, p. 1011).

What I'm saying here is that this comic is making a big error in thinking that by being "dark" it is doing something to fairy tales that has never been done before. An ad for Legends from Darkwood describes it as a "truly grim fairy tale." Did the author of that ad ever actually read any of The Brothers Grimm? How about the story of "The Goose Girl," in which the villain is at the end thrown in a barrel studded with nails and dragged around town until dead? Is that not "grim" enough for you? Plenty of fairy tales are already gruesome, sexual, or otherwise "edgy" without any help from the likes of Christopher Reid.

I'm also annoyed that Reid could think of nothing better to do with a unicorn than eat him, what with all the interesting uses for unicorn horn. If you make a cup of unicorn horn, it will sweat in the presence of poison, for example. Selling such cups could be a profitable business in a universe like Darkwood where casual murder is an accepted practice. Unicorn horn can also be ground up for an aphrodisiac; had Reid wanted, he could have made unicorn horn the aphrodisiac Rose uses on Raynd. That would have been ironic.

What I'm saying is, you better get up pretty early if you want to impress Snuffles the Dragon with an ironic, "fractured," or otherwise unusual take on fairy tales. I have watched numerous episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle. I have seen Into the Woods. Both of those do a fine job of sending up fairy tales.

Speaking of Into the Woods, that musical arguably has the same moral as Darkwood, a moral which may be summed up as "Life isn't a fairy tale." The difference is that Into the Woods presents the moral cleverly, first mashing together a number of fairy tales, telling them in a straightforward though humorous way, and then deconstructing them, mostly by killing off characters (they even kill the narrator, and that's no easy feat). The musical still manages something like a happy ending, though not a happily-ever-after ending. Darkwood, on the other hand, is so impressed with itself for being dark, it overdoes it. Here's the last word from the character Raynd at the end of this first volume: "For starters, this isn't a storybook. No one ever learns their lesson, no one ever saves the day, and no one will ever hesitate to take advantage of you. We just screw up worse and worse everyday--and finally we die" (p. 130). My only recent screwup was buying this comic--but oh yeah, I did it with Deej's money.

The Sci Fi Catholic apologizes for the cynical and slightly raunchy content of this book review. Please direct all complaints to snufflesthedragon@hotmail.com. Or, you know, you could get off the computer and get a life instead.

Book Review: The Courageous Princess

Tuck yourself in and let Rod Espinosa tell you a story.

The Courageous Princess, written and illustrated by Rod Espinosa. Dark Horse Books: 2007. 238 pages. $14.95. ISBN-10: 1-59307-719-X, ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-719-5.

Rod Espinosa is one of those people. He's not a great writer, but he's such a good storyteller it hardly matters. I have previously written about his epic comic book series, Neotopia, and today I shall discuss one of his earlier, probably better-known, comics. The Courageous Princess is less ambitious than Neotopia and in some ways less refined, but it shows that Espinosa's interests haven't changed: in both works, he's fond of anthropomorphic animals, fantasyscapes, quests, epic battles, and strong heroines. And in both, his artwork is top-notch.

The Courageous Princess opens like an especially pleasant illustrated children's book, depicting the idyllic childhood of Princess Mabelrose, whose parents, King Jeryk and Queen Helena of New Tinsley, are paragons of virtue and good child-rearing:

Queen Helena taught her her how to plant flowers in the royal garden. She also taught her her little daughter how to sew and mend. When night came the queen told her many bedtime stories of faraway lands and daring heroes. Mabelrose loved her mother very much. King Keryk would take her along when he visited their subjects.... To King Jeryk, everyone was important. The king and queen taught their daughter to be humble, kind, and generous. But most important of all, they taught her always to pray. [pp. 9-10]

After the picture-book introduction, the narration ceases and the story moves to a more conventional comic book format in which we meet Mabelrose as an adolescent. She's excited because she's been invited to her first ball in another, more powerful kingdom. But when Mabelrose arrives at the ball, none of the princes will dance with her and all the other princesses make fun of her shabby clothes and her freckles.

Soon after, Mabelrose is kidnapped by a dragon with an unpronounceable name worthy of Lovecraft (Shalathrumnostrium, if you must know), who lives in a gigantic castle surrounded by impenetrable thorns and guarded by trolls. Convinced no prince will come for her because she's neither the fairest nor the richest in the land, Mabelrose orchestrates her own escape, taking with her some of the dragon's favorite items: a bottomless handbag, a magic rope, a camouflaging cloak, a magic ring, and some seven-league boots (or maybe 1/2-league; they don't actually seem to carry her anywhere).

As you can probably guess, Mabelrose soon meets a companion. His name is Spiky, and he happens to be a gregarious talking porcupine who soon becomes Mabelrose's close and faithful friend (and through the rest of the book, I was distracted by the question, "How can it be physically possible to cuddle with a porcupine?"). Mabelrose spends most of the book escaping trolls, meeting interesting magical characters, making friends, freeing people from tyranny, and heading inexorably toward her distant home.

The Courageous Princess makes open references to other works of fantasy. The magic cloak and rope clearly pay homage to the elvish cloaks and rope in The Lord of the Rings and a lionine king is reminiscent of Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz receives a more explicit reference, as do a few fairy tales, including "Rapunzel" and "Snow White." A map appearing every once in a while reveals this to be one of those fantasies set in a land surrounded by the settings of other fairy tales, similar to but less manic than Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. On the map are such places as The Pea Kingdom in which can be found the Town of Mattress Makers, for example.

This is not-so-subtly a coming-of-age story. As already described, the introduction zips through Mabelrose's childhood. Her kidnapping, which occurs when she is an adolescent, is her first prolonged separation from her parents, during which she swiftly learns to rely on her own resources. And near the end, Spiky observes, "Well, you have grown up, you know" (p. 216). This sudden realization of adulthood reminds me of another coming-of-age story, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen;" in that story, the characters leave on an adventure as children, and when they return, they apprehend that they had grown up during their journey.

The religious references are more explicit than in Neotopia: Mabelrose always remembers to pray before meals and bedtime, and her prayers are simple and hardy ones, appropriate for the young audience at which the comic is presumably aimed: "Please bless my father and mother... Please tell them not to worry. I wish I could tell them that I am alive and well. Please bless all my friends back home especially Bess and Kim. Lastly, may a noble prince rescue me soon" (p. 51). Espinosa never beats us over the head with it, but we are probably to understand that prayer is a major source of Mabelrose's strong character. Although the religion is never described, it is apparently monotheistic, though as in Neotopia, Espinosa hints that multiple religions peacefully coexist: a few characters are clearly polytheistic, and Spiky at one point thanks "the briar spirits," perhaps indicating the animals are animists, which seems to me logical for a fairy tale world.

Though I've only read two of his comic series so far, I'm impressed by Rod Espinosa's fantastic and carefully detailed artwork, his highly imaginative worlds, his lovable characters, his good sense of fun, and his wholesomeness. This is one parents will want to sneak away from the kids to read themselves.

The Sci Fi Catholic's Rating for The Courageous Princess:

Myth Level: High (fairy tales, coming-of-age, universal themes, quest)

Quality: High (excellent artwork, a great story, likable characters)

Ethics/Religion: High (positive depiction of prayer, no objectionable content)

The Sacred & the Profane Part 2, Christian Tragedy?

Tragedy for Christians...or not?

Here we have a subject we hope will start a reader discussion.

The sacred & the profane, which I discussed yesterday, is a collected comic book series with an impressive total of three forewords, or excuse me, a "foreward [sic]," a "preface," and an "introduction." That's a lot of introducing.

Eric McLuhan is author of the preface, which asks the intriguing question, "Is a Christian tragedy possible?" Here is his answer:

But is a Christian tragedy possible? From a doctrinal point of view, no. Christianity offers salvation, ultimate reunion, external [sic] life; tragedy portrays loss, separation, death. (It is no new observation that all tragedies end with a death, all comedies end with a wedding.) Is, then, tragedy a dramatic form with any relevance to our present or future condition? Probably not. Except, perhaps, as a means of affording a pleasant nostalgia.

A couple of years back, I was at the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought. One of the professors there (I believe it was Dr. Robert K. Carlson, but I'm sure he'll forgive me if I'm misquoting him) stated that a Christian could never write tragedy. After the lecture, I ran up to him and contended that he was wrong, that Christians can indeed write tragedy; I personally found tragedy cathartic, and I was not about to give it up. I entered the fray armed with examples, namely the story of King Saul in the Bible and John Milton's Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. After Dr. Carlson calmed me down, he asked me what I meant by tragedy exactly. I replied, paraphrasing the Cliffs Notes to Paradise Lost, that tragedies were stories of noble people who destroy themselves.

He responded that I had a good understanding of tragedy. He then told me that many people today think of tragedies not as stories of self-destruction but as stories of people arbitrarily singled out by God for wrath or abuse. That is the kind of tragedy a Christian can't write.

Dr. Carlson continued by noting that the universe as a whole is a comedy, but that individual tragedies within that comedy are still possible because of free will, which leaves open the possibility of self-destruction and damnation, as we discussed in our essay on the film The Burning Hell. (And I recommend the further discussion on that film now up at The B-Movie Catechism.)

In other words, McLuhan is wrong. Christian tragedy is possible, even necessary. After all, a comedy could not be a comedy if it were not in danger of becoming a tragedy. The characters in the wedding at the comedy's end are there because they have escaped real danger. Had there been no danger, there would be no story and the happy ending would be hollow.

The Sacred & the Profane

Catholics...in Space! ...Again!

The sacred & the profane written by Dean Motter and illustrated by Ken Steacy. Eclipse Graphic Album Edition (hardcover). Eclipse Books (Guerneville, California): 1987. n. pag. $24.95. ISBN: 0-913035-18-1.

Let me see if I can get the complicated history of this thing right. Originally, Dean Motter and Ken Steacy published the comic The Sacred and the Profane in five parts from 1977 to 1978 in Star+Reach. In the early 1980s, Motter and Steacy rewrote, re-drew, and colored their work and printed the new version in Epic Illustrated. In 1987, Eclipse Comics collected the Epic version into a single volume, which I recently discovered languishing on a shelf in That Shady Book Store Down the Street where Snuffles and I both do a lot of shopping. The cover art (to your left) was more than enough to convince me to take it home.

The comic's subject is one which, for whatever reason, is of perennial interest in science fiction: Catholics in space. See A Case of Conscience, The Sparrow and Ray Bradbury's 1951 short, "The Fire Balloons," for the classic examples.

The Sacred and the Profane depicts a future in which the discovery of life on another world has swelled religious interest around the globe so that the Catholic Church and numerous other religions are flourishing. Readers will probably recognize this as a sharp contrast with numerous other science fiction works in which the discovery of extraterrestrial life is a challenge to religious faith or even the source of its extinction.

Because of the heightened interest in religion and a set of improbable circumstances, the Catholic Church has convinced the United States to launch three Catholic space missions, known collectively as the Catholic Interstellar Crusade, to colonize distant worlds and evangelize the natives. The Sacred and the Profane chronicles the ill-fated first mission, Saint Catherine's.

Saint Catherine's is essentially a flying cathedral, and Steacy's intriguing Gothic church-cum-spaceship design is one of The Sacred and the Profane's numerous delights. Crewed by 215 people, most of them clergy, the ship comes complete with a sizable chapel, including an organ loft, where much of the action takes place. The story is told largely through the eyes of Sister Marianna, one of the nuns of the ship's convent, who as the story opens is losing her faith due partly to the monotony of space travel and due partly to a possibly inappropriate attraction to one of Saint Catherine's warrior monks, Brother Joshua, who she sees as a paragon of faith and virtue.

She won't have much time for brooding, however, as Saint Catherine's soon approaches a mysterious alien object that opens fire on the ship. Though the clergy commanding the mission hope to turn this unpromising beginning into a peaceful encounter, Brother Joshua, who soon turns out to be a crazed fanatic, returns fire and launches Saint Catherine's small regiment of fighter craft. The attack is a disaster; a number of the warrior monks are killed, and vine-like extraterrestrial entities invade the ship. Able to crawl anywhere and hide, and capable of combining together into creepy humanoid forms, the extraterrestrials begin killing the human crew as Saint Catherine's becomes trapped in a decaying orbit around the alien object. Though at first the aliens are apparently murderous, their motives are ultimately ambiguous, as is much of the story.

The Sacred and the Profane, though overall a fine work, suffers from character glut. Too many people are presented to the reader in too short a space. It becomes difficult to keep track of them and their sometimes convoluted and often less-than-holy relationships. A few of these relationships never have much relevance to the story as a whole.

Though it has has some eccentricities suggesting Motter and Steacy are not entirely familiar with their subject matter, such as a toga-clad archbishop addressed as "Your Holiness," the work is sophisticated in its depiction of religion and religious people: for example, in regards to the order of warrior monks who are supposed to protect the ship and crew, Motter is careful to tell us that the Vatican disapproved the creation of such an order but at last capitulated at the insistence of Archbishop Franklin, who spearheaded the space missions and commands Saint Catherine's. At the same time, it is Archbishop Franklin who confronts Brother Joshua and tries to rein in his violence.

Also impressively nuanced are Sister Marianna's attempts to assess her feelings for Brother Joshua. She admires what she perceives to be his faith and holiness, but fears her admiration has become inappropriate. As she envisions him as a gold-clad crusader knight astride a unicorn, she wonders, "Do I desire his passionate commitment, or do I desire him? Am I losing my ability to distinguish the spiritual from the sensual?" These musings are psychologically believable. Of course, the reader soon learns her admiration is misplaced, and eventually, so does she.

Thematic complexity and boldness prevent The Sacred and the Profane from falling prey to inherent weaknesses such as its excess of underdeveloped characters and a number of science fiction clichés, including but not limited to cabin fever on a space mission, an edgy guy who goes completely insane by the end, and a spaceship with a self-destruct sequence (why would a Catholic missionary ship have a self-destruct sequence?). In the afterword to the Eclipse Volume, Dean Motter discusses his intentions for the comic. His comments are intriguing enough, I wish to quote them at length:

The story is intended to be an allegorical satire, however ridiculing neither Catholicism nor interstellar exploration. It is, in fact, an attack on a civilization that no longer has the spiritual disposition to deal with its own mysticism--the technological alchemy that can produce such miracles as manned space flight, atomic power, instantaneous global communications, and genetic engineering.

A culture must maintain a clear understanding of the relationships between Heaven and Earth; between God and Man; and between man and his church. Such matters, when reduced from belief to mere opinion are left to squirm in the shadow of scientific method.

Religious thought was at one time a very powerful and sophisticated force within our culture. Scientific thought, though infantile and restless, eventually outgrew and overshadowed its secular counterparts. Now a prematurely senile technology and a retarded spiritualism noisily ignore one and other.

The Sacred and the Profane is about the reunion of these two now disparate governments.

I confess I didn't understand all that (does he really mean secular counterparts, or does he mean to say religious counterparts?) , but Motter's statements make clear why The Sacred and the Profane is a good read in spite of itself. If I understand him rightly, he is saying that a culture without a clear philosophical or religious foundation is a culture in trouble. He is saying that the separation of church and state and the separation of science and religion are balderdash. He is saying that a culture that cannot state clearly what it believes and what it stands for is a decadent culture, perhaps a doomed culture. Whether or not the reader is inclined to agree, and whether or not Motter is correct, it is undeniable that this is a good position from which to write a work of religiously themed science fiction: he has no anti-religious chip on his shoulder, but he isn't trying to evangelize, either. Motter states, "It is difficult to approach a story that deals with religion without appearing to either attack or defend it," but in The Sacred and the Profane he succeeds, and that is the comic's great strength.

Many religious readers may ask first if a book with religious themes is positive in its depiction of religion, but I suggest that question is less important than these:

1. Is it sophisticated in its depiction of religion? Does it avoid depicting religious people either as uniformly evil fanatics or perfect do-gooders?
2. Does it discuss religious matters in such a way as to encourage the reader to think about the subject further?
3. Is it good art?
4. By mentioning it, could I potentially impress women at a science fiction/comic book convention or club?

In the case of The Sacred and the Profane, the answer to all these questions is yes.

The Sci Fi Catholic's Rating for The Sacred and the Profane:

Myth Level: Medium-High (universal themes)

Quality: Medium-High (some serious bumps, but excellent nonetheless; complex musing expertly encased in a brief science fiction story)

Ethics/Religion: Medium-High (a great try, but a little more research was in order)

Update: Read Part 2 on the subject of Christian tragedy.

Holy Heroes!! Blog Gets Facelift

The group religion-in-comics blog on which I sometimes co-author, Holy Heroes!!, has recently had a facelift, giving it a brand new look. Also, Elliot has posted a blurb on the book Up, Up, and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein. Looks mighty interesting!

Book Review: The Art of Bone

Comic fans will need something to keep the drool off the pages.

The Art of Bone. Artwork by Jeff Smith et al, introduction by Lucy Shelton Caswell, and design by Cary Grazzini. Edited by Diana Schutz and Devae Marshall. Dark Horse (Milwaukie, OR): 2007. $39.95. 200 pages. ISBN-10: 1-59307-441-7, ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-441-8.

This is book is worth every cent of the cover price. It is gigantic (a foot tall) with gorgeous, enormous, full-color illustration throughout, and it costs no more than some hardback novels. And it contains not only much artwork that diehard Bone fans already know, but much that they almost certainly don't.

The history of the publication of Bone is complicated, to say the least. Self-published for a while, then published under Image, then self-published again with special short stories released in Disney Adventures Magazine and Wizard Presents, the three Complete Bone Adventures collections followed by the nine-volume series followed by two editions of the One Volume Edition followed by the Scholastic full-color versions and another One Volume Edition, not to mention greeting cards, guest art, T-shirts, Thorn strips from Smith's college days, rough drafts, comics from Smith's childhood, and a set of phone cards(!)--with all of that, I promise you you have not seen every picture in this book before.

And did I mention that the illustrations are gigantic? It makes me deeply regret the minuscule size of the Scholastic editions. Ah well, perhaps some giant-sized editions like they have in Norway will appear in a few years.

The volume opens with Mark Crilley's map of the Valley on the inside of the hard cover. It then continues with bold, black pages adding successive bits of text like the opening credits of a movie, each text presented opposite a giant image of one of the Bone cousins, until you arrive at last at a two-page spread of the enormous, glorious Bone logo. Following that, Lucy Shelton Caswell gives a brief but informative introduction (which includes an inset of one of my favorite images from the comic), followed by Diana Schutz's preface. After that, we're hip-deep in wonderful artwork, beginning with a lush presentation of the cover of Bone #37 framed by the line that first introduced us to Bone's mythological universe and hinted that this was to be more than a comic about cute talking animals: "Dreams are windows to the Spirit World...a world from which everyone comes and to which everyone must one day return." Awesome!

The book contains lots of big pictures of cover art, both from the original Cartoon Books publications and from some of the Image reprints, including one of my all-time favorite pictures, the Image cover to Bone #2, which shows Thorn and Bone's first meeting. The short story "May the Force Be with You," originally published in Disney Adventures Magazine and not to be found in the final compilation of the comic, appears here, as does the Thorn strip on which it's based. It involves, among other oddities, a scene in which Fone Bone, without losing his signature deadpan, gets swallowed by a giant eagle. The book also has some photographs of Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio, which Smith used for Bone's lush forest setting, and Kathmandu, which he uses for its exotic urban conclusion.

I think my new favorite image of Bone's two protagonists is the picture from a pair of phone cards released with the second anniversary issue of Combo Magazine. The picture features a grinning Thorn giving Fone Bone a hug. A phone card featuring a character named Fone seems quite appropriate.

Along with the numerous images are a number of captions and short paragraphs (presumably written by Diana Schutz) describing various aspects of the Bone saga. Regular readers here will already know of some of them: she identifies the "Dreaming," Bone's spirit world, with the Australian Dreamtime and notes that the characters Rose and Briar are a reference to "Sleeping Beauty." She reveals, as I had long suspected, that Smith's wife was the major inspiration for Thorn and discusses Smith's use of light and shadow and "camera" placement, the sort of things that many readers might not pick up. And even though Bone is a complex work featuring humor, adventure, a large cast of characters, an epic story arc, and a mythic backdrop, she writes, "The relationship between Thorn and Fone Bone is the axis on which the entire Bone epic turns, beginning as an innocent, though incendiary, crush and blossoming into a wholly trusting partnership" (p. 40). The Sci Fi Catholic certainly agrees.

The last half of the book discusses important plot points including the climax and conclusion. For that reason, though it may potentially entice new readers, The Art of Bone is best for those already familiar with Bone. For those afflicted with the same disease as myself, known as terminal Bone addiction, it is a must-have.

Review of Shazam!

You can read my discussion of Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil on the Holy Heroes!! blog.

Book Review: Flight Volume 2

I seem to be reading this series backwards.

Flight Volume 2, edited by Kazu Kibuishi. 431 pages. Image Comics, Berkeley. ISBN: 1-58240-477-1.

I previously reviewed Volume 3 of this series, so when I saw Volume 2 on the shelf, I snatched it. I can say that the stories here are just as good.

At least one of the stories I thought was new in Volume 3, Michel Gagné's "Underworld," has a prequel here, "Inner Sanctum." The stories follow the continuing adventure of a little fox in a surreal sf universe. The stories have two very different expressions of the idea of a hidden underground realm.

Probably the best stories, Jake Parker's "The Robot and the Sparrow," Sonny Liew's "Dead Soul's Day Out: A Malinky Robot Story," and Kazu Kibuishi's "The Orange Grove" all share the theme of--not robots--friendship, and they do a delicate job of exploring it. Two are quite moving, but "Dead Soul's Day Out" is surprisingly gritty and dark for a story about kids.

The "weird story I don't get" award goes to Matthew Woodson's unsettling "Tendergrass," a wordless piece featuring a man slitting open animals in a corn field, presumably for some kind of magic ritual.

"Best imitation of The Twilight Zone" goes to Rodolphe Guenoden's classicly underhanded and very satisfying "The Ride," which has one of those twist ending you know is coming but love anyway.

Rad Sechrist's "Ghost Trolley" features some neat characters in an intriguing world full of impractical high-flying architecture that puts me in mind of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. I only wish the story lasted longer. Specifically, it features a young woman who drives a trolley for dead people.

The funniest is "Impossible" by Herval and Aris, featuring a toy airplane with an unrequited crush, though is has some close competition in "Mousetrap" by Johane Matte, Ghislain Barbe, and Eric Baptizat and "The Flying Bride," which seems to be missing attribution, and "Icarus" by Johane and Matte, which indicates that Dedalus's invention of those wings was a long and painful time coming.

Art and storytelling quality are consistently high, with the exception of Don Hertzfeldt's "'Dance of the Sugar Plums' or, Last Month on Earth," a train-of-thought end-of-the-world story featuring stick figures. I could have drawn that.

The Vivisection of Bone, Part 1: Romancing the Bone

This one’s for Peter, who asked for it very nicely. This is the first of three essays on Bone by Jeff Smith, covering the high fantasy epic comic boo