Thirty Pieces of Silver

There was once a man who betrayed a friend for thirty pieces of silver.
He betrayed him with a kiss.
The friend was crucified.

- The Judas Coin

by Walter Simonson

Christianity, Counterculture, and Comics

The other week I made an impulse buy at my local comic book shop. Those of you who know me well may not think this is surprising, but actually I usually hold a pretty strict shopping list when it comes to physical, individual issues. This is both due to financial and time restraints. The cost of buying comics seems to grow in an inverse relationship with the amount of free time I have to read my purchases. To illustrate the seriousness of the situation, I don't even include any Batman titles on my regular reading list (unless, of course, it is written by Grant Morrison).

But that day I saw on the shelf an issue of Occupy Comics about the Occupy movement and the financial crisis and bailouts that spurred it. Now, you, dear reader, likely have your own opinions on this social/political occurrence. I don't really care about that. What I was really interested in was the fact that this issue contains an essay by Alan Moore (of Watchmen fame and self proclaimed wizard who is not to be trifled with) about the history of comics as counterculture and a medium of protest.

Word Become Flesh

Pauly: You mean, like, a door? A door to what?
Genie: A place very different from here. And yet the same.
Real, and yet not real.
Word become idea become solid flesh.
Pauly: "Word become flesh"? You don't say.
That's a smoking gun in anyone's book.

- The Unwritten #48

by Mike Carey and Peter Gross

When Nothing Happens

I s'pose it's the least I can do. But I warn you, the folks are a bit strange just now. They all lost kin in the war -- MIA.
Now this TV preacher says he's gonna pray to bring them back.
Got them all psyched up like a football coach.
It's gonna break Ma's heart when nothing happens.

- Hellblazer #5

by Jamie Delano and John Ridgway

They're All Stories

Religion. Science. Politics. Our relationships. Our identities. They're all stories.
Stories that hold our place in the world. Hell, that become our world.

- The Unwritten #45

by Mike Carey and Peter Gross

66 Days of Preacher: Day 7

Wow. It has been a while. You know how I get distracted? Well, I get distracted. But 66 Days of Preacher continues! We left off way back when on a cliffhanger. Have you been on the edge of your seat the entire time? Or did you figure I'd never get back to this? Well, surprise! I am definitely going to slog through all 66 issues of joyous theology, blasphemy, and depravity for your entertainment.

So, to briefly recap: Jesse and Tulip went with Cassidy's friend Si to visit a blind man that might know where God is. Meanwhile, Detectives Bridges and Tool are hunting a serial killer. Tool receives a tip that the killer wants to turn himself in. While Jesse goes into the blind man's building, Si stabs Tulip! And Cassidy finds something in Si's apartment...

Feel free to review for yourself:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six

Standard Preacher NSFW protocols apply.

Without Story

But in the end--
--without story... without the ability to step sideways from fact into hypothesis--
--human life is untenable.

- The Unwritten #45

by Mike Carey and Peter Gross