Frustration

Father Leone: God D--

- Superman #205

by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee

Thursday Morning Theology Hangover

Yesterday was, of course, Wednesday. This is what I read:

Invincible #109
I still hold that Invincible is Robert Kirkman's love letter to the superhero genre. It hits all the common plot lines, events, and tropes littered throughout 70 plus years of comic book history. While Kirkman's more popular book, The Walking Dead, is grim and dark, Invincible is just plain fun. Last issue ended with the title character trapped in an alternate dimension. I could easily see this story arc lasting several issues to resolve, but Kirkman ramps up the pace. So, at the end of this issue, instead of continuing to wonder what Invincible will do to get back home, I'm left wondering what he will do when he gets back home to the one who stranded him in that alternate dimension. Things are probably going to get a bit messy in the Invincible family.

In This World

As for the poor... Well! You'd think they'd be honored to suffer as our Lord suffered... But Nooooo!! They want justice! They want equality! They want contraception!
It isn't enough that the church has secured their salvation in the next world. Now they want us to do something about their pathetic existence in this world!

- Ragmop

by Rob Walton

Thursday Morning Theology Hangover

In a perfect world I would have plenty of time to read all my Wednesday purchases that night and give a brief recap the next morning. However, this is far from a perfect world. I mean, really, HBO makes it impossible to watch Game of Thrones online without subscribing to their network. Does that sound like a perfect world to you?

Sorry. That was a tangent. Anyway, these are the books that came out yesterday and that I read last night. I may not be able to do this every Thursday. Honestly, look at my track record for posting things consistently and on time. It's not very good. But we'll give it a shot.

Also, this doesn't mean these titles are full of theological insight. Most of them aren't, but I feel it might be nice to offer a snapshot of what I'm reading for fun. Also, these are really, really good books.

Wednesday Theology Condensed: Language and Characteristics of the Format

"Part of the problem stems from the fact that language is not static. Language changes, grows, fluctuates, and evolves. Elizabeth Johnson says that 'words about God are cultural creatures.' God may not change, but our ways of speaking of God surely do. Particularly, as Christianity spread through the world its language adapted from Greek to Latin and onward to other languages. Few people, when they proclaim the name of Jesus, take the time to reflect on how nobody used that particular pronunciation of his name to refer to Jesus during the New Testament period. 'As cultures shift, so too does the specificity of God-talk,' says Johnson."

What does all this mean? If we are going to use graphic literature to talk about God, we need to know how the language of graphic literature works.

Ms. Marvel #1

A couple months ago Marvel announced a new Ms. Marvel title with the relaunched hero assuming the form of a teenage Muslim girl. The internet, as you can imagine, had some things to say about this matter. The decision was celebrated by many pining for more diversity in characters and creators in the comic book industry. Others, though, were not so fond of this development.

A pastor I follow on twitter expressed his displeasure with the idea of a Muslim superhero and snidely asked if Marvel even had any Christian superheroes. I, being who I am, replied in the affirmative and listed off a couple prominent Christian characters, such as Daredevil and Nightcrawler. Of course there was no reply to my comment. I assume he intended his snarky comment to be taken rhetorically. I can relate. I am often annoyed when people point out my wrongness when I'm trying to be clever.

But if you say something stupid on the internet about comic books and religion, don't be surprised if I call you out on it.

Comic Snaps

Kids these days - Runaways Vol 2

Runaways! Volume Two! It's good stuff. There may have been a vampire. Here's some snaps chronicling my reading experience.