Over on The Nomos Journal last year, Paul Robertson delivered a sensational account of the mythic Cyclops through the lens of graphic narrative:
[T]he modern graphic novel arises from, and in turn influences, our modern, Western culture. This culture is globalized, includes values, such as individualism, and contains an audience well versed in postmodern ideas and literature that lend a certain type of irreverent, cheeky, and highly culturally indexed humor. Thus, certain aspects of a given story that are important within the Hebrew Bible, for example, are omitted or given a humorous re-branding explicable to its modern audience. Other elements that may seem non-essential to the original myth, meanwhile, may be kept if they fit certain modern, Western sensibilities. In these ways, the modern graphic novel retains only certain elements of ancient mythology; thus, it maintains the relevance of these stories for a modern audience.
While Robertson overlooks one Cyclops particularly dear to the superhero genre, his analysis is nonetheless impressive and cogent.
One of S&S’s newest members, Scott S. Elliott, shared his terrific Postscripts paper on “Jesus in the Gutter: Comics and Graphic Novels Reimagining the Gospels” on his Academia.edu page. It’s free to read, even without a membership! Read more about it here.
This week Canadian literary critic, historian, and comics scholar Jeet Heer weighed in on Twitter with his thoughts on the latest Captain America blockbuster. Of particular concern to Jeet was the Gnostic manner in which the shifting status quo of knowledge as a sacred (or at the very least, exceedingly important) value is treated, thus altering the entire narrative function of the ever-nefarious Hydra. You can read the full Twitter essay and my thoughts in response collected here on Storify.
The man behind The Fisher King, behind Brazil, behind Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam, was making the interview rounds in September to promote his new film Zero Theorum starring Christoph Waltz. In speaking with CinemaBLEND, the Twelve Monkeys director expressed his concerns about superheroes replacing religion:
I mean the Church is a dying thing. But comics and Marvel are everything now, aren’t they? Don’t they have all the answers to our lives? Aren’ they the figures that we want to copy and be like and aspire to? Don’t they relieve us when we’re in trouble?
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.
@ the intersection of religion and comics: Graphic Religion
The man behind The Fisher King, behind Brazil, behind Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam, was making the interview rounds in September to promote his new film Zero Theorum starring Christoph Waltz. In speaking with CinemaBLEND, the Twelve Monkeys director expressed his concerns about superheroes replacing religion: