Category Archives: reviews

controversy, from the Internet, reviews

The Cremation of Jewish X-Man Kate Pryde

In a review for Marvel Comics’ Marauders #11, Bleeding Cool reporter Jude Terror writes:

The X-Men gives Kate Pryde’s body a Viking funeral, as Jewish tradition dictates.

This, of course, is grossly in error; Jewish tradition dictates no such thing. And even if the (pseudonymic?) Mr. Terror had his tongue deeply in his cheek, it’s a joke in poor taste.

Why’s that? Because, as writers like Rachael Knight at Women Write about Comics point out, it’s a pretty large insult to her religious heritage, particularly as one of the most prominent and long-time Jewish superhero characters.

Marauders #11 Buries Kate Pryde’s Jewish Legacy

Continue reading The Cremation of Jewish X-Man Kate Pryde →

contributors, from the Internet, reviews

Jane Foster: Valkyrie – Glimpsing Transcendence in Death

[This column by Michael J. Miller originally appeared on his site My Comic Relief. It is copied here with the permission of the author.]

The centerpiece of Jason Aaron’s epic seven year run writing Thor: God of Thunder/The Mighty Thor/Thor was Jane Foster lifting Mjölnir when the Odinson found himself unworthy to do so.  She became Thor, the Goddess of Thunder, and the stories that followed were the best Thor comics I’ve ever read.  It may be the best executed single story arc I’ve ever ready in any comic ever.  When the Odinson eventually reclaimed his title as the God of Thunder, Jane returned her focus to her civilian life, medical career, and – most importantly – fighting the cancer raging inside her.  However, her superhero career was far from over and the stories Jane Foster now finds herself in (written first by Jason Aaron and Al Ewing and now by Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk) dance along the mysterious, wonderous, frightening, sacred threshold that is the dividing line between life and death.

When the Dark Elf Maliketh’s War of the Realms invaded Earth, Jane – mortal and powerless but with her cancer now in remission – once more stood alongside gods and heroes to fight his evil army.  Maliketh’s forces were ultimately vanquished, but not without great sacrifice.  Among those fallen in battle were all the Valkyrie.  In Norse mythology (and similarly in the Marvel Universe) the Valkyrie are a race of warrior women who decide who lives and who dies in battle.  The Valkyrie then had the sacred duty of transporting the souls of those who died to the realm they’d reside in for their afterlife.  At the end of the War of the Realms, Jane Foster was given the responsibility and the gift of being the last Valkyrie.

Valkyrie 4

Jane bonds with Undrjarn at the end of the War of the Realms. / Photo Credit – Marvel Comics

Continue reading Jane Foster: Valkyrie – Glimpsing Transcendence in Death →

contributors, reviews

Review – Toscano and Hartmann-Dow’s The Amazing Adventures of the Afterbirth of Jesus

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The Amazing Adventures of the Afterbirth of Jesus is a subversive tale by Biblical scholar and Quaker Peterson Toscano and artist Joey Hartmann-Dow. A slim volume, over twenty-nine pages it tells the story of Hagar, the placenta born alongside Jesus in the stable. Key moments in Jesus’ ministry unfold as we expect in the background while the reader is given glimpses of Hagar’s influence. Born sentient, once used, the afterbirth is ignored and rejected and she consciously names herself Hagar, after a fellow rejected woman of the Old Testament. She follows Jesus carefully and is desperate for acknowledgement and inclusion. It is through her attention-seeking pranks that Jesus’ ministry develops. She causes coins to go missing in the home of a widow, sheep to escape their pen, wedding wine to be spilt, blindness and leprosy to afflict those who flock to Jesus and ultimately, the death of Lazarus. However, cleaning up her mess is not enough and it is only through eventually welcoming her back into his life can Jesus complete his purpose on Earth.

Toscana is a regular at the UK-based Greenbelt Festival speaking on the hidden LGBTQ+ voices of the Bible and it was here that I heard him mention Afterbirth. How could a comics scholar miss an opportunity to pick up a copy? Continue reading Review – Toscano and Hartmann-Dow’s The Amazing Adventures of the Afterbirth of Jesus →

academic, contributors, reviews

Review – Arnaudo’s The Myth of the Superhero

MYTH OF THE SUPERHEROMarco Arnaudo, The Myth of the Superhero, Trans. from Italian by Jamie Richards [Il fumetto supereroico: Mito, etica e strategie narrative, 2010], Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins U.P., 2013, 206p. [July7]

Better late than never! This book was published in English four years ago (and in Italian seven years ago), but apparently it fell through the cracks. It is difficult to explain why it received so little attention, with only one book review by Jason Archbold from Macquarie University according to my library research engine. Maybe it is because the back cover blurb does not seem to propose anything new:

“Through a series of close readings of DC and Marvel comics, Marco Arnaudo explores the influence of religion and myth on superhero stories as well as their relationship to the classical epic.”

Situating the superhero phenomenon within mythology and religion has been done in many articles, chapters or entire books (e.g. Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces,  Knowles’ Our Gods Wear Spandex, Weinstein’s Up, Up, and Oy Vey!, all cited in his book).

However, I just read Arnaudo’s book and found it an excellent short (150 pages for the main text), dense, and clear synthesis with, actually, some original ideas.

Continue reading Review – Arnaudo’s The Myth of the Superhero →

from the Internet, reviews

Review – The Goddamned #3: The Mark of Cain (Sequart.org)

(The following article by Ian Dawe first appeared at Sequart.org on 4/7/2016. It is presented here with his permission.)

THE GODDAMNED #3Jason Aaron’s The Goddamned is best described as a cross between the Bible and Mad Max, with all the brutality and wit that implies. But somehow it goes so far into the depths of inhumanity that it crosses over into being funny, and even joyful. There’s the spirit of a dare about the whole book, as if the creators are just pushing their imaginations as far as they can be pushed, well beyond the realm of bad taste. For example , an early scene in issue #3 features a flashback to just after Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, and Eve spits out the charming line, “Fuck you. The snake was more man than you are, you dickless coward.” Adam, serene and buff, simply cradles Cain in his hands and points out that the whole world is his for the taking. And what a world it is.

Continue reading Review – The Goddamned #3: The Mark of Cain (Sequart.org) →