Table of Content
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword: Looking for God in the GutterDouglas Rushkoff (Creator, Testament; The New School) IntroductionChristine Hoff Kraemer (Cherry Hill Seminary) and A. David Lewis (Boston University), editors NEW INTERPRETATIONS The Devil's Reading: Revenge and Revelation in American ComicsAaron Ricker Parks (McGill University) London (& the Mind) as Sacred-Desecrated Place in Alan Moore's From HellEmily Taylor Merriman (San Francisco State University) Drawing Contracts: Will Eisner's LegacyLaurence Roth (Susquehanna University) Catholic American Citizenship: Prescriptions for Children from Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact (1946-1963)Anne Blankenship (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Gold Plates, Inked Pages: The Authority of the Graphic Novel G. St. John Stott (Arab American University, Jenin) Comics and Religion: Theoretical ConnectionsDarby Orcutt (North Carolina State University) Killing the Graven God: Visual Representations of the Divine in ComicsAndrew Tripp (Boston University) Echoes of Eternity: Hindu Reincarnation Motifs in Superhero Comic BooksSaurav Mohapatra (Creator, India Authentic) The Christianizing of Animism in Manga and Anime: American Translations of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the WindEriko Ogihara-Schuck (Dortmund University of Technology) RESPONSE & REBELLION On Preacher (Or, the Death of God in Pictures)Mike Grimshaw, University of Canterbury Superman Graveside: Superhero Salvation beyond JesusA. David Lewis (Creator, The Lone and Level Sands) "The Apocalypse of Adolescence": Use of the Bildungsroman and Superheroic Tropes in Mark Millar & Peter Gross's ChosenJulia Round (Bournemouth University) From God Nose to God's Bosom, Or How God (and Jack Jackson) Began Underground ComicsClay Kinchen Smith (Santa Fe College) A Hesitant Embrace: Comic Books and EvangelicalsKate Netzler (Independent Scholar) Narrative and Pictorial Dualism in Persepolis and the Emergence of ComplexityKerr Houston, (Maryland Institute College of Art) POSTMODERN RELIGIOSITY Machina Ex Deus: Perennialism in ComicsG. Willow Wilson (Creator, Cairo) Conversion to Narrative: Magic as Religious Language in Grant Morrison's InvisiblesMegan Goodwin (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) "The Magic Circus of the Mind": Alan Moore's Promethea and the Transformation of Consciousness through ComicsChristine Hoff Kraemer (Cherry Hill Seminary) and J. Lawton Winslade (DePaul University) Religion and Artesia / Religion in ArtesiaMark Smylie (Creator, Artesia) Present Gods, Absent Believers in SandmanEmily Ronald (Boston University) Tell Tale Visions: The Erotic Theology of Craig Thompson's BlanketsSteve Jungkeit (Yale University) Selected Bibliography Appendices
Reviews
"[...]the range and social-scientific sophistication of this collection makes it central to the current analysis of religion in comics/novels, of vernacular religion, and indeed of religion as such. I hope that anthropologists attend to this subject and bring our unique perspective to the fascinating and fertile topic." -- Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database, "Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Super&Âheroes , Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books , and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero . Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaa) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries." â€� Library Journal, "Graven Images excels at offering sophisticated interpretations of comic books and graphic novels that demand critical attention...Undoubtedly, Graven Images is a valuable contribution to the study of religion and popular culture. For religion scholars engaged in comic book/graphic novel criticism, the collection sets a high mark and will likely become an essential reference point for those in the field. For general scholars of religion or popular culture, Graven Images offers insight into how religion is a self-conscious engagement for comic book authors and readers, yielding works of depth and power within genres frequently dismissed as child's play." The Journal of Popular Culture, [...]the range and social-scientific sophistication of this collection makes it central to the current analysis of religion in comics/novels, of vernacular religion, and indeed of religion as such. I hope that anthropologists attend to this subject and bring our unique perspective to the fascinating and fertile topic., "Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Superheroes, Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero. Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaä) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries." - Library Journal
