How about you, faithful AFB (Avid Fan Base)? Have you enjoyed it as well? I hope you have. If not, let me know what I can do to improve your Wednesday Theology experience.
So what is this 100th post going to be about? Daily Quotes. Because I love finding them and sharing them. It's always fascinating to me to dig around in a comic collection and suddenly find a bunch of theological issues mentioned or discussed. As of this writing, there are currently 48 posts with the Daily Quotes tag. Which I think is just great. If someone asks me (or even you!) what comic books have to do with theology, I (or you!) can just point them to this list of 48 examples of theology and graphic literature colliding. And I plan on that list only getting longer and longer.
So, 48 quotes. Let's have a quick rundown of my favorite five of them. In no particular order:
This is, in my mind, one of the central themes of The Unwritten. Stories come alive because we read them, watch them, listen to them, and retell them. And we believe them. Maybe we don't believe they are literally true, but we do, in some way, believe in the story. We remove ourselves from our usual lives to participate in the story. For that time, and for however long the story lingers in our minds, it becomes real. Compound that with millions of people all sharing in the same story and the story can become more real than reality. Stories can be extremely powerful.
I'm partial to this one because I used it in my thesis. In Animal Man #26 Grant Morrison takes on the God role as he confronts Animal Man as the character's Writer. Morrison laments that the reason he made so many bad things happen to Animal Man is because it makes for good entertainment. I find that to be a troubling theodicy. Why do bad things happen to good people? Because it makes for a dang good story.
Superman is often pointed out as a contemporary messianic figure, and this quote from The Unwritten #28 eloquently captures that sentiment. A baby in a basket, or a stable, in a fresh coat of paint that makes it an alien in a spaceship. Moses, Jesus, Superman. A story repackaged and retold that greatly impacts the world. It's just beautiful.
I used Mark Millar and Peter Gross's Chosen as the subject for a paper on the humanity of Christ. We often lose sight of his humanity. Really, if we focus on his humanity at all, it's only by referencing the pain he felt when he was crucified. So I love the way this excerpt makes me consider mundane, everyday aspects of Jesus' life as he grew up. Yeah, he may have been the Son of God, but someone still had to potty train him. Someone had to wipe his nose. For some reason, we rarely consider such things when we view the life of Christ.
"Is the story true?"
"As true as any other."
I love stories.
So, what have been your favorite quotes? Do you agree with my picks or are there some even better ones out there? Let me know!
And we'll have even more awesome quotes coming up soon as well. The fun never ends here!
Seriously though, those of you who do read this blog of insanity, I sincerely thank you. It means a lot to me, and I hope it's always worth your time.
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