Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Bible in Popular Culture
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The trade paperback, Superman: Redemption, brings together three different Superman stories with religious contexts: Redemption: Action Comics #848 “If you believe, a man can fly” & Action Comics #849 “In good faith”. Angel: Superman #659. The Beast from Krypton: Superman #666. The stories are interesting because the writers use an existing ‘non-religious’ narrative world or character – Superman…
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Today we look at The Tithe, a criminal investigation comic that is framed within the pluralistic religious context of the contemporary USA. As such, religion is present throughout the stories as part of the settings the characters inhabit, but the focus of the story is on the interaction of the characters within that context.
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In this instalment – DC/Vertigo’s Lucifer, which is located in a clear theological and supernatural framework, and which wrestles with free will, power, and predestination. And some thoughts on getting the casting right for transferring the comic to other media.
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The weeks leading up to Christmas Day a populated by Santa parades, madcap shopping, a rush to finish work, Christmas parties, Christmas songs and carols – religious and secular – and the odd nativity play or reenactment. All of these form what Jason Clark calls consumer liturgies that demand our attention while relegating religious and…
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Kingdom Come Publisher: DC Comics Writers: Mark Waid & Alex Ross Artist: Alex Ross Letterer: Todd Klein Kingdom Come pretty much has everything you could want in a comic: Interesting characters; familiar characters recast by circumstance; conflict; sacrifice; an apocalyptic edge; great art; redemption; and excellent storytelling. It’s one of my go-to comics for showing people…
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I picked up a few comics and graphic novels in the past couple of months that have various religious themes, characters and motifs, so I thought I might do a Top 10 list and subsequent postings for my favourite comics with religious and spiritual material. This is the list of comics that I tend to…
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One of the final writing projects of research leave is to put to bed a book chapter on angels and popular culture that I’ve been working on in fits and starts. I’ve tried a few ideas out as conference papers (Greenflame: All about angels this fortnight), as well as in the classroom and church contexts,…
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Each year I do a module in an undergradute Christology course that focuses on cinematic portrayals of Jesus, and I’m getting ready to do that again in late September. So, I’m looking at my DVD and digital media collection of films (and a few TV series) that deal explicitly with the portrayal of Jesus and…
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I had the opportunity recently to peruse the samplings of two comic book vendors I don’t normally get a chance to visit, and to rummage through their stock looking for more material for Bible and popular culture resources, and also for the angels in popular culture research project. Down in Wellington, I had a look…
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I was rereading a short popular article I wrote a few years back on religion and comic books with a view to expanding it into something with a bit more academic depth and focus. Something that moves from simply describing the interaction of religion and comic books (and graphic novels and other forms of narrative…