[The following piece was originally published at MartinLund.me and it is reposted here with the author’s permission.]

Is It a Thing? “Pantheonic Bricolage.”

If you are at all familiar with my work, you know that I have a particular interest in the intersections between comics and religion. I have spent countless hours studying comics in relation to Judaism and Jewishness, on editing a book about Muslim superheroes (the release of which is so close now I can almost taste it!), and I’m currently drafting a book about the recently deceased evangelical comics propagandist Jack T. Chick (about whom I have written here and here).

In addition to this, I’m also working on a guide to comics and world religions with a couple of fellow scholars of the topic. We have hashed out a rough structure and are working separately on our chapters. In addition to writing about the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), I will also be tackling what we have chosen, for now, to call “Archaic Traditions.” (I just might make another “Is it a thing?” post about that label somewhere down the line.)

This means that I am writing about Greco-Roman, Egyptian, and Old Norse religions. And I am loving it to no end. There is so much interesting material to work with here, and I will be sharing thoughts and reviews as things progress.

But for now, I want to bounce a thing off the internet and see what happens.

I want to talk about what I have been calling, for lack of a better term: “pantheonic bricolage.” It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t.

Continue reading Martin Lund on the Possibilities of “Pantheonic Bricolage” →

controversy, cultural, interviews, podcast

Writer Mike Baron on Based Stick Man, the Alt-Right, and Free Speech – 001 Sacred & Sequential Audio

September 13, 2017 A. David

Promotional cover art to Based Stick Man

A. David Lewis speaks with Mike Baron in August 2017 about the upcoming Based Stick Man series, the politics of the series, and Baron’s own views on free speech and violence.

“Sometimes our heroes aren’t the people we’d most like them to be. You’ve got to take who you can get.”

interviews

Ron Regé on Drawing from (Outside) the Qur’an

August 28, 2017 A. David

If you missed this year’s Free Comic Book Day, then you likely didn’t hear about Fantagraphics’ Worlds Greatest Cartoonists collection featuring such creators as Ed Piskor, Richard Sala, or Liz Suburbia. Additionally, the FCBD offering — intended, says the publisher, to “Features a Breadth of Styles and Visions and World-Building” — also included a notable piece from Ron Regé entitled “From the Star and the Clot,” a visual retelling of the Quranic visit of the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad.

Given the frequently cited tensions between comics and Islam, Sacred and Sequential had the opportunity to interview Regé about the origin of and his goals for this work. (Note: “From the Star and the Clot” was first presented as a minicomic and is still available for purchase as a stand-alone work.)

S&S: Where did “From the Star and the Clot” come from? What was your source of inspiration for it?

RR: I was inspired to draw this sequence after reading about it in a book called The Alphabet vs The Goddess. I think I happened upon it in a bookstore, strangely enough. In it, Leonard Shlain lays out his theory about how the development of written language helped bring about a patriarchal hierarchy of power and control that was absent from previous image based, matriarchal societies. It’s not a perfect work, but it brings up questions and ideas that I’d been curious about for my entire life.

S&S: How long ago was this, approximately? That is, was this a recent discovery or something that’s shaped your thought for some time?

RR: I guess between 2008-2012 I was putting myself through a sort of self-directed course, reading dozens of books related to spirituality, history, philosophy, etc. I found myself attracted to figures & people with some pretty out there philosophies & ideas. Tesla, Mesmer, Wilhelm Reich, Swedenborg, Gurdjieff, etc & so on. This was all in the period that I was working on The Cartoon Utopia.

The idea that laws and rules written in books could be used as instruments of control by men in power, that a literate class could control the rest of society with such tools is a pretty powerful & obvious argument when looking at the misogynist horror that is Western Civilization. Is it wishful thinking of the modern age to think that oral traditions and societies of the past were more holistic, matriarchal, and malleable when dealing with matters of their moment? Perhaps, but it brings up fascinating conflicts between left & right brain, male & female, science & spirituality that continue to cause much confusion in the world today.

Continue reading Ron Regé on Drawing from (Outside) the Qur’an →

contributors, cultural, events

Sacred & Sequential Report from the San Diego Comic-Con, Part 2

July 25, 2017 A. David

As she did with its opening day, special correspondent Samantha Langsdale continued to report from the 2017 International Comic-Con San Diego (aka the San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC).

In addition to her own presentation at the Comic Arts Conference (CAC), Samantha relayed intriguing notes on another presenter, Kerry Fine, and her analysis of Arigon Starr’s Super Indian:

Kerry Fine of Arizona State University

Ok, annoyingly, Travis Langley’s name tag got left on the podium, but this is Kerry Fine from Arizona State University, She’s discussing Arigon Starr’s comic Super Indian, which, through allusions, humor, and hyperbole, challenges normative assumptions about Native American spirituality and culture.
It challenges assumptions about native being “magical” and, instead, shows the normal, everyday experiences of Native Americans whilst always being critical of colonial representations of natives.

In fact, Starr herself was invited up as a special guest.

Arigon Starr

When asked about any relevant buzz concerning the Eisner Awards, Samantha reported

haven’t heard much chat to that effect. I’ve been mildly annoyed to find nothing about Islam. We’re going back to the Small Press section today [Sunday] to rummage around, so I’ll see if I can find some indie. But overwhelmingly nothing and no panels!

She noted some Ms. Marvel cosplay but scarce else notably Islamic. Christianity, on the other hand, was well represented:

Samantha also noted that the IDW panel mentioned “plans to publish a comic about Antar” and that, along with the cosplay, Ms. Marvel was a frequently mentioned character, “a fav on almost every panel I went to about diversity/women.” (She was unable to attend the “Spiritual Themes in Comics” panel hosted by the Christian Comic Arts Society, however, where panelists ” examine[d] how spiritual themes influence the entertainment industry and how the reality of spiritual beliefs affects the culture’s perception of spiritual influences. )

Sacred and Sequential once again wants to thank Samantha for her time and notes — as always, so much to see at SDCC!

contributors, cultural, events

Sacred & Sequential Report from the San Diego Comic-Con, Part 1

July 21, 2017 A. David

Sacred & Sequential has its own special correspondent Samantha Langsdale reporting exclusively for us from the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) – known more formally as the International Comic-Con San Diego. She has been sending us short blasts from on site concerning relevant events and products she has spotted:

Today [Thursday] there is a comics panel at 12:30 in 24abc called “A Bunch of Jews (A Minyen Yidn)”
With Hope Nicholson, Trina Robbins, and artists Jen Vaughn, Elizabeth Watasin, Miriam Libicki, and Willy Mendes.

As for the panel’s subtitle, A Minyen Yidn:

The title of the panel refers to an anthology they are creating.

Continue reading Sacred & Sequential Report from the San Diego Comic-Con, Part 1 →

@ the intersection of religion and comics: Graphic Religion