Little Mitchell and the Comic Book Store

A couple weeks ago I was visiting my local comic book shop to pick up my weekly bounty of graphic literature. While browsing the shelves of newly released titles, I swear I heard a woman call my name. But I ignored it, for I didn't think there were any other patrons in the store that I knew. Then I heard it again.

"Hey, Mitchell. Come look at this!"

About As Likely

Cicero: ...A singularity collapse of the bubbleverse could in theory cause a blowback through the membrane into our dimension--
Yarab: About as likely as a "camel through the eye of a needle."
Cicero: But for argument's sake let's say you wanted to cause a collapse. How would you go about it?

- FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics #3

by Simon Oliver and Robbi Rodriguez

Most Insidious Of All

Every creation myth is really a story of destruction.
I can hear voices.
Then listen-- you might learn something.
That's not accurate. The Judeo-Christian Genesis is pure creation. There was only void before. Nothing to destroy.
Ha. No. You're forgetting the point of the whole story. That myth is the most insidious of all. The destruction actually comes at the end.
The Judeo-Christian myth begins in the void but ends with the expulsion from Eden. It's the destruction of Paradise.
The destruction of peace.

- God is Dead #1

by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Costa, and Di Amorim

Under My Breath

My father was a religious man.
I got you, hon.
Can you hear me?
Jean, can you hear me?
For me, as a scientist, it never made any sense.
Don't go, Jean.
But for the first time in a long time--
Don't go...
--I hear myself pray.
Please...don't let her go...
Under my breath, at first.
Then louder.
Please--!

- Identity Crisis #4

by Brad Meltzer and Rag Morales

Untitled Angle the Angel Story

I wrote this story some time ago. I think at this point it might have been years. I have shared it with a select few. I'm always wary about sharing my creative work with others. I wrote it during a time when I was lonely and struggling in life and faith, and this was an outlet for me. Depending on your theological leanings, it may be controversial. But if you're easily offended theologically, you probably shouldn't be reading a blog about Wednesday Theology.

MitchWords: Part Ten

I know I haven't written a MitchWords post in quite a while. I didn't know just how until right now. The last MitchWords I wrote was a year ago. Today. So, if nothing else, I guess we can have an obligatory birthday MitchWords.

Angel of the Bat

Art by Damion Scott

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a creator is never quite able to implement a certain pitch, idea, or storyline. Since we live in the age of the Internet, though, these unproduced ideas can still float around in the aether and be discussed by interested parties (take, for example, Kevin Smith's script for the Superman Lives movie that was never made).

This occurs in all media, including graphic literature. Periodically, it involves proposed storylines with religious themes. You know, the kind of fodder ripe for Wednesday Theology. But, alas, these ideas never make it to the page. They can still be intriguing, though, and worth discussion.

Now, in the gaming and software industry, unreleased products forever stuck in development hell are referred to as vaporware. Software that only exists as a vapor, a whisper, a rumor. So maybe I will take to calling these instances of unproduced religiously thematic graphic literature storylines Wednesday Vaportheology.

Maybe.

You Don't Even Understand Us

That's your problem, mate. The whole bloody lot of you just wander about like a pack of wankers, seeing everything in black and white.
You were right that you'll never understand us, okay--and I'll tell you something else...
You're the sodding problem, not us! You're the ones that make the frigging rules for us, and you don't even understand us!
No wonder we're so screwed up!!

- Hellblazer #43

by Garth Ennis and Will Simpson

Pain And Death

The religion of these Christians teaches servitude...
...silence...
...utter obedience...
...torture as an honor...
...pain and death as a reward at the end of it all...

- Northlanders Vol Three, "Lindisfarne" Part 1

by Brian Wood and Dean Ormston

Laws And Joylessness

The rules and laws and joylessness of the white Christ, the punishments and deprivations--how is this a religion? How is this a life?
And we are to love a God who demands this of us?

- Northlanders Vol Three, "Lindisfarne" Part 2

by Brian Wood and Dean Ormston

Not The Same Save

Stan: You know those religiosos who think God will save them? They got it all wrong. I have found my "savior" with a capital "S"!
Ed: I may be agnostic, but I'm pretty sure that's not the same "save"...

 - Superman 80 Page Giant #1 (May 2010), "Superman Is My Co-pilot"

by Jason Hall and Julian Lopez

In Holy Defense

Yes, you fucking dimwit, with a sword. Like you got in your hands right this moment.
Assuming you were in a position to have to do so, in holy defense of our most blessed Lord Christ Jesus...
How. Hard. Do. You. Think, to kill a man?

- Northlanders Vol Three, "Lindisfarne" Part 1

by Brian Wood and Dean Ormston

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

And Who Decides?

Hellboy: What are they?
Demon: Misspent lives. Not the great monsters, but the common damned.
Hellboy: And who decides who's damned?
Demon: Each man's soul is his own. How he chooses to spend it...
That is for each man to decide for himself.

- Hellboy in Hell #2

by Mike Mignola

I Believe In Comic Books

I believe in comic books.
When most people hear "comic books," the immediate thought is mor than likely of some capes and tights and some muscle-y dudes or muscle-y ladies slamming each other into buildings or punching a battleship. Y'know -- books like the ones those corporate suits produce over at the two big companies... or like the other book I do, Invincible.
You see, I'm a comic fan; I love that stuff.
But comic books, as a whole, are so much more. The good news is this isn't news. Comics have been much more from the very beginning, actually. And lately we've had things like Sin City and Hellboy, Cerebus, the fine crime comics from the likes of Brubaker and Phillips, classics like Minimum Wage or Love and Rockets, modern comics like Casanova, Morning Glories, Hack/Slash, Elephantmen, Chew, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, The Walking Dead (whatever that book is) or the upcoming Saga.
So non-super hero comics are nothing new... and whoo boy is that a good thing.
Still, though... the vast majority of comics feature superheroes, and the vast majority of those comics feature old superheroes, stale musty ideas from the middle of the last century or later. Around 60 to 70% of the comics produced each month fit that bill, so we've got a long way to go.

- Robert Kirkman

Romances in the Wards

Fuck superheroes, frankly.
The notion that these things dominate an entire culture is absurd.
It's like every bookstore in the planet having ninety percent of its shelves filled by nurse novels.
Imagine that.
You want a new novel, but have to wade through three hundred new books about romances in the wards before you can get at any other genre.
A medium where the relationship of fiction about nurses outweighs mainstream literary fiction by a ratio of one hundred to one.

-  Powers #7

by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

2013

Dear Avid Fan Base,

I am sorry.

I apologize for being away for so long. There was this thing. I wrote a paper. I presented it at an academic conference. It was awesome.

But I got distracted. I got sidetracked and overwhelmed and skipped updating Wednesday Theology one day. And then the next. And it went like that until now. Until today. Until 2013.

We're back, baby!

New year. New logo (look at that thing! Courtesy of Josh Bailey. Look at it!). New content.

Same old fun, theological insanity.

I'm getting the band back together, so to speak. Updates will be more frequent (as in there will actually be updates). We can all continue 66 Days of Preachers. I was afraid that would get left behind, and it was a strategic move so I could get everything done in time for the presentation, but afterward it was just my own dang laziness. Again, I apologize.

Soon I'll give a more detailed account of the conference, what I learned, how it inspired me, and what I'm going to do next. Yes, there will be some interesting stuff coming up next.

There's a fire inside, a passion for comics and theology that can't die out, even if I wanted it. But I don't want it to die out. Because this is what I do. And in 2013 I'm going to be doing a lot of Wednesday Theology.

Won't you join me?

Happy New Year!

 - Mitch
Bitter. Sarcastic. Handsome.