Tag Archives: islam

Prominent Muslim Characters Continue to Expand in Comics

Kismet, Man of Fate (2018)

With Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) soon coming to video game systems as part of Marvel’s Avengers game, it seemed a fitting time to look back at this 2017 CBR article on 15 notable Muslim characters in comics:

http://www.cbr.com/muslim-comic-book-characters-you-should-know/

More characters have arisen even since the article’s publication, including Red Dagger & Amulet in Ms. Marvel or Sofia & Nasser of Sheriff of Babylon. Currently, funding is being raised on Patreon for a second new volume of CBR’s number-one Muslim character, Kismet, Man of Fate.

Bosch Fawstin and “Evil”

Generally speaking, Sacred and Sequential does not republish anything that could be construed as hate speech, bigotry, or prejudice. Amplifying these voices tends to work against our interfaith/multicultural efforts and encourage their further ugliness.

At the same time, there is also the responsibility not to look away, to engage the world as it is and not how we would like it to be. To that end, we’re sharing this January interview from the Randian Objective Standard with “tireless ex-Muslim cartoonist” Bosch Fawstin, an ‘update’ of sorts from earlier profiles on him and his work. In it, Fawstin elaborates on his view that “Islam is an evil ideology.”

https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2020/01/bosch-fawstin-on-combating-the-evil-of-islam/

In May of 2018, Fawstin was suspended from Twitter due to “hateful conduct,” to which he responded with this piece.

Again, please note that sharing this interview should be in no way understood as an endorsement of Fawstin or The Objective Standard. Even so, if there is any area at all in which our site agrees with Fawstin, it is in terms of the right to free speech. It is good to know, out loud, where he and his supporters stand.

Sacred and Sequential’s Top Overall 2019 Stories

Following our year-end listing of the top new stories in 2019, the question arose as to what were the top overall postings in 2019. That is, what were the most-read articles, regardless of what year they were published.

So, to satisfy curiosity, here are Sacred and Sequential‘s most-read pages over the course of 2019:

5.

Review – Toscano and Hartmann-Dow’s The Amazing Adventures of the Afterbirth of Jesus

4.

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know on Black Panther and Religion

3.

Kleefeld Questions Chuck Dixon on Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, etc. of White Nationalist ALT-HERO

2.

The Cthulhu Cosmology in Hellboy

1.

The Tangled Relationship Between Religion and Comics

Religion, Spirituality, and Comics – A Sampler (Part 1 of 3)

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a reader of comics. I grew up on the old Planet Comics black-and-white newsprint anthologies of DC titles before moving onto the more expensive and imported coloured individual issues of Marvel and DC from the US and the weekly issues of Tornado and 2000AD from the UK. Because I’d read anything in that format, I read various religious tracts and comics, as well as graphically-adapted works of classics like Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the serialised comics in the back of the daily newspaper.

I’ve always been intrigued by the power of these storied images, and as a Christian theologian with an interest in popular culture, I’ve spent the last twenty years or so collecting comics and graphic novels that have religious themes and material or touch on spiritual matters. Sometimes these comics are representations of sacred texts like the Hebrew or Christian scriptures; other times they explore themes of sacrifice, redemption, faith, and suffering. They might take an established comic book character and explore their religious dimension or fashion a detailed cosmology inclusive of heaven(s) and hell(s). There is something about the graphical format that lends itself to not just traditional narrative prose but also to poetry, to wordless stories, non-linear storytelling, and being able to tell stories from a variety of cultural and ethnic settings.

In these posts I’m going to highlight ten particular comic titles that I might recommend to people if they asked for examples of religion and spirituality in comics and graphic novels. I’ve deliberately steered away from graphical adaptations of religious texts like the Bible or material intended to educate or encourage the faithful. I may do a series on those eventually as they are also very interesting, but in these posts I want to highlight where we might find religion and spirituality in other contexts. I do not expect everyone (or anyone!) to agree with my choices, but I hope get you thinking about how people are telling religious and spiritual stories in this format. Continue reading Religion, Spirituality, and Comics – A Sampler (Part 1 of 3)