Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books & Graphic Novels

by A. David Lewis (Editor), Christine Hoff Kraemer (Editor)

Overview

Comic books have increasingly become a vehicle for serious social commentary and, specifically, for innovative religious thought. Practitioners of both traditional religions and new religious movements have begun to employ comics as a missionary tool, while humanists and religious progressives use comics' unique fusion of text and image to criticize traditional theologies and to offer alternatives. Addressing the increasing fervor with which the public has come to view comics as an art form and Americans' fraught but passionate relationship with religion, Graven Images explores with real insight the roles of religion in comic books and graphic novels.

In essays by scholars and comics creators, Graven Images observes the frequency with which religious material-in devout, educational, satirical, or critical contexts-occurs in both independent and mainstream comics. Contributors identify the unique advantages of the comics medium for religious messages; analyze how comics communicate such messages; place the religious messages contained in comic books in appropriate cultural, social, and historical frameworks; and articulate the significance of the innovative theologies being developed in comics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826430267
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/21/2010
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

A. David Lewis is a national lecturer in Comics Studies, an award-winning graphic novelist, and a PhD candidate in Religion and Literature at Boston University.

Christine Hoff Kraemer holds a PhD in Religion and Literature from Boston University and is Department Chair of Nature, Deity, and Inspiration at Cherry Hill Seminary, South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Looking for God in the Gutter Douglas Rushkoff ix

Introdution Christine Hoff Kraemer A. David Lewis 1

New Interpretation

The Devil's Reading: Revenge and Revelation in American Comics Aaron Richer Parks 15

London (and the Mind) as Sacred-Desecrated Place in Alan Moore's From Hell Emily Taylor Mrriman 24

Drawing Contracts: Will Eisner's Legacy Laurence Roth 44

Catholic American Citizenship: Prescriptions for Children from Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact (1946-63) Anne Blankenship 63

Gold Plates, Inked Pages: The Authority of the Graphic Novel G. St. John Stott 78

Comics and Religion: Theoretical Connections Darby Orcutt 93

Killing the Graven God: Visual Representations of the Divine in Comics Andrew Tripp 107

Echoes of Eternity: Hindu Reincarnation Motifs in Superhero Comic Books Saurav Mohapatra 121

The Christianizing of Animism in Manga and Anime: American Translations of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Eriko Ogihara-Schuck 133

Response and Rebellion

On Preacher (Or, the Death of God in Pictures) Mike Grimshaw 149

Superman Graveside: Superhero Salvation beyond Jesus A. David Lewis 166

"The Apocalypse of Adolescence": Use of the Bildungsroman and Superheroic Tropes in Mark Millar and Peter Gross's Chosen Julia Bound 188

From God Nose to God's Bosom, Or How God (and Jack Jackson) Began Underground Comics Clay Kinchen Smith 203

A Hesitant Embrace: Comic Books and Evangelicals Kate Netzler 218

Narrative and Pictorial Dualism in Persepolis and the Emergence of Complexity Kerr Houston 230

Postmodern Religiosity

Machina Ex Deus: Perennialism in Comics G. Willow Wilson 249

Conversion to Narrative: Magic as Religious Language in Grant Morrison's Invisibles Megan Goodwin 258

"The Magic Circus of the Mind": Alan Moore's Promethea and the Transformation of Consciousness through Comics Christine Hoff Kraemer J. Lawton Winslade 274

Religion and Artesia/Religion in Artesia Mark Smylie 292

Present Gods, Absent Believers in Sandman Emily Ronald 309

Tell-Tale Visions: The Erotic Theology of Craig Thompson's Blankets Steve Jungkeit 323

Appendix A 345

Appendix B 347

Appendix C 353

Selected Bibliography 357

Index 361

Editorial Reviews

"This scholarly anthology is a brilliant work on a number of levels. First and foremost, it is a beautifully written and often gripping read, with all of the essays demonstrating a similarly high level of academic rigor and accessibility... it would make an ideal starting point for anyone who wishes to explore the world of "serious" graphic novels (read: not just superheroes punching communists). In addition, Graven Images would make an excellent, in-depth secondary source for students and scholars of graphic novels from the undergraduate level up through the faculty. This volume is highly recommended." --Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher

[…]the range and social-scientific sophistication of this collection makes it central to the current analysis of religion in comics/novels, of vernacular religion, and indeed of religion as such. I hope that anthropologists attend to this subject and bring our unique perspective to the fascinating and fertile topic.

Anthropology Review Database Jack David Eller

Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Superheroes, Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero. Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaä) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries.—M.C.

Library Journal