Spencer & Locke, Second Coming

Last of the week’s new comics!

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My comic shop underordered this title (I’m not surprised that a tiny comic like this isn’t getting more readership), so the reorders are just getting to me now.  Having mined most of the Calvin & Hobbes reference materials in the first volume, David Pepose continues the crossover with Beetle Bailey.  It’s done well enough that I would very much enjoy seeing how he’d spin other newspaper comic strips in this dark, twister manner.

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So my faith is a very personal thing.  It works for me, and as long as it doesn’t hurt other people, I like to think that I’m pretty open to what others choose to believe or not.  I also have no problem when those with genuine intellectual curiosity question established religious doctrines. Faith can’t be blind, and exploring interpretations is a healthy thing. 

Which leads to Mark Russell’s Second Coming.  He spends the first half of this issue with an irreverent but completely valid take on the “traditional” Jesus.  

Nice penis fruit by Richard Pace.

Legit reaction.

The second half introduces the readers to Sunstar, the Superman stand-in for this story.  He’s got some relationship issues with “Lois” that any person can empathize with, so he seems fine for now.

Once God teams Jesus up with Sunstar, we get an interpretation of Jesus’ brother Shimon that struck a resonant emotional chord with me. 

So Russell’s got things off to a good start. I have no idea where this is going, and I’m looking forward to it. (Hopefully it goes better than Wonder Twins.)  He talks in the afterward about being accused of blasphemy and being forced to switch publishers.  For my money, I’m grateful that he’s taking this brave plunge into examining Christianity’s place in the modern world.  

“All I know is, as weird as the answers may seem, the questions these comics attempt to answer are important.  Anda s professional thought-experimenters, that is our duty to the world. We blaspheme, not to belittle the faith of millions, but to offer the world something new.”

Good on you, Mr. Russell.