All posts by A. David

Sequart Reviews A. David Lewis’s New Book: “particularly timely”

Sequart logoSequart‘s Karra Shimabukuro was given early access to the new book by A. David Lewis, American Comics, Literary Theory, and Religion: The Superhero Afterlife. Due out in November from Palgrave Macmillan, Shimabukuro detailed what readers can expect from the forthcoming book on superheroes, the afterlife, and audiences’ notions of personal selfhood.

As more and more people question the purpose and definition of self in the modern world, Lewis’ work is particularly timely.

Shimabukuro particularly noted the incorporation of theorists Benedict Anderson and Jeffery Burton Russell as personal attractions to the text. The book, she says, will be of interest to readers intrigued by the “argument for multiple selfhoods, and how this relates not only to how we view characters (in relation to reboots, revisions, and retcons), but also how we understand characters through the ever growing intertextual connections such as movies, cartoons, fan fiction, etc.”

Read more here.

Wednesday Theology: Daring to Address God

Mitch Alfson of Wednesday Theology shared his 2012 paper from Dordt College’s The Christian Evasion of Popular Culture Conference. In it, he encourages his audience to look beyond the superhero genre for (the lack of) engagement with God, featuring Will Eisner’s A Contract with God and Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon’s Preacher in particular. Read more here.

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The ISIS Terrorist Who Loves Superheroes

Rich Johnson at Bleeding Cool noted a particularly disturbing trait to one of the ISIS terrorists: He’s apparently a superhero fan. The Guardian newspaper profiled Reyaad Khan, a Welsh jihadist and, based on his Twitter feed, a Batman and Justice League enthusiast. Shouldn’t there be something inherently contradictory between the superhero credo and ISIS’s principles? Read more here.

Deicide Abounds in “God Is Dead”

Rich Johnson at Bleeding Cool provided coverage of the two-part mini-series God Is Dead: Book of Acts, a companion to Avatar Press’s main God Is Dead series created by Jonathan Hickman. In short, many, many divinities slaughter each other, with humankind in the middle (and a great deal of sex had on the way as well). And now, it’s attracted creators like Alan Moore (and his personal serpent god Glycon), Kieron Gillen, and Si Spurrier to weave mini-myths for it! Read more here.

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