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Religious Revivals and the Great Awakening of Religion & Comics

[Part Two of “What Makes a Scholar’s Pull-List?”]

Panel from _Manifest Destiny_, art by Matthew Roberts
Panel from _Manifest Destiny_ by Chris Dingess with art by Matthew Roberts

American historians sometimes call the waves of religious fervor in the 18th and 19th century our country’s “Great Awakening.” It is a powerful image–convinced that God’s spirit was calling Christians to renew their commitments–Americans flocked to open-air revivals to hear fiery sermons by orators like George Whitefield. Among the innovations of this era was what would become evangelicalism, that variety of Christianity that emphasized the individual, emotional “born again” experience of admitting one’s sinful nature and accepting Jesus’ offer of redemption.

Why this historical introduction? I have tried to consider various explanations for how my assortment of monthly comics came to be.  Are my subscriptions simply the products of obscure personal quirks? Am I distracted by certain styles of art or attracted to certain writers? No matter how I tried to explain why I had certain comics on my list to be set aside monthly when they arrive, I found that the list defied me.

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from the Internet

Joshua Hale Fialkov: Comic Books’ Secret Religious Man?

Joshua Hale Filakov

Both USA Today and The Huffington Post are reporting on the latest comic book series from writer Joshua Hale Fialkov. The Devilers, his new title from Dynamite Entertainment, features and interreligious team of experts in thwarting Satan’s forces…which happen to be pouring out of the sub-basement of the Vatican.

Fialkov is also the writer behind another new series this month, The Life After, from Oni Press — what USA Today calls “a coming-of-age journey through the purgatory of suicides and other after-death planes of existence.”

The Devilers and The Life After join Fialkov’s growing biblography alongside his DC Comics hit I, Vampire which also touches upon the supernatural and spiritual. With each of these titles, Fialkov is, intentionally or otherwise, expanding vistas of religion-tinged narratives across the mainstream comics marketplace.