Those not fortunate enough to attend the 2017 American Academy of Religion annual conference, particularly its final morning of presentations, are in luck: We’re joined by a frequent Sacred & Sequential contributor, Iliff School of Theology’s Elizabeth Coody, for a redux of her paper, “The More Savage Sword: A Theory of Biblical Text Used for Shock.” For the podcast, visual input is offered by host A. David Lewis, but online audiences can follow her accompanying Prezi here.
On the lighter side of comics and religious adaptations, looks no further then the webcomic Noah’s Brother’s Ark. The story is precisely as billed: Noah’s brother Leon has his own ship, an ark with a jacuzzi, “bilingual puppet show,” and snacks galore — when Bigfoot isn’t eating all of it. While not quite a “scholarly” consideration of the biblical/Qur’anic tale, it does take the proverbial wind out the sails from overblown, overwrought adaptations of the same material, whether that be The God-Damned, Noah, or even Some New Kind of Slaughter.
That said, if your reading of the Great Flood feels lacking in chupacabras, dinosaurs, or aliens, then this treat by Andy Hunter might do the trick. It’s a nice breath of fresh air!
S&S’s own Beth Davies-Stofka examines the ultimate origin story, the Book of Genesis, in many of its comic book manifestations for Sacred Matters. Read here.
James Bucky Carter, founder of the SANE Journal (i.e. Sequential Art in Narrative Education), recently announced that the University of Texas – El Paso (UTEP) would be offering his special section of ENGL3327: Jewish American Literature in the Fall 2011. Specifically, Carter’s course will focus on the graphic novel:
I’m not Jewish, but there is a rich backlog of texts and articles dealing with comics-and-judaica connections. What an exciting challenge to put together a course list and to have to choose from all the great comics and graphic novels out there!
Expect to see — for sure! — a lot of Eisner and Sturm, some Spiegelman, Crumb’s Genesis, some Superman comics, some Stan Lee, probably some Kominsky-Crumb.
On Facebook, Carter also noted that the course may include The Golem’s Mighty Swing and the possibility of The Rabbi’s Cat and MAUS.
