Who was Boaz's kinsman-redeemer?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Eve Tushnet

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment

Last updated on: October 21, 2003 at 2:04 am by Eve Tushnet

2003-10-21T02:04:00-04:00 Eve Tushnet

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES: Comics reviews. Snapshots first, then longer reports. Next installment will review Cuckoo, Jar of Fools, and Uzumaki. The longer reviews in this installment are in alphabetical order, which means they end on a hell of a note. This was a very, very good trip to the comics shop.

First, the short takes: Sean Collins asked, lo these many weeks ago, for recommendations of horror/frightening comics. I finally thought of a few. All from Love and Rockets.

The most horrific L&R; is definitely the title story from “Flies on the Ceiling.” That hits me in the heart and the gut every time I read it. But a few other L&R; stories also fit the bill: Wigwam Bam (more of a noir, and probably more dependent on your already knowing the characters, whereas I think you could start with “Flies on the Ceiling”); Poison River (Gilbert Hernandez’s best art by far, and some of his best storytelling); and, absolutely, the “Human Diastrophism” story from Blood of Palomar. (That’s another one you could start with, since I don’t think it requires any prior knowledge of the characters. And holy cannoli, frightening.)

Gone and Forgotten (a wildly funny site) slams Marvels. Now, I’ve already expressed my love for this book! So perhaps my reaction is simply predictable.

But I guess I just didn’t feel like I was being herded into taking the pro-costumed-vigilantes side as thoroughly as G&F; did. I thought the book made several of the points G&F; makes in his review, e.g. “there are just as many super bad guys as there are super good guys.” (Wasn’t that the point of kicking the book off with Namor vs. New York?)

I expect my take on the book stems from five facts: I knew very, very little about the Marvel Universe when I read it, so “fannish” concerns were pretty much nowhere on my list of reactions. And I didn’t know who I was supposed to root for. (I still don’t really know to what extent Namor is supposed to be a Good Guy.)

I love J. Jonah Jameson. He’s my third favorite superhero-comics character ever. (After Cyclops and Daredevil, assuming you care.) He’s great and a half. I want to be him if I grow up. So I always do sympathize with the anti-superhero faction.

(Relatedly:) In art generally, I tend to sympathize with whoever is wrong. It’s very easy to be wrong. People are often wrong for the best reasons. Ultimately, Marvels does present most (but, I’d still contend, not all) of the anti-superhero sentiment of the M.U. as wrong; but wrong in a way that you and I are wrong all the time, every day. Wrong because accurate moral assessments are really, really hard.

I’m kind of obsessed with the concept of the sublime. All sublime things are frightening; not all frightening things are sublime. I thought part of the point of Marvels was the blurry line dividing the two categories.

And finally, I’m obsessed with the consequences, virtues, and blindnesses of the American moralistic streak, and I thought Marvels brought those out in a subtle and unexpected way (and in a way that, again, complicated and undercut the “you should love the masked vigilantes who protect your country!” message).

OK, so… that was a creative definition of a “short take.” Sorry…! Now the reviews:

Goldfish: Underworld fatherhood and romantic crimes. Brian Bendis working with some of the same characters, and roughly the same style (cinematic, cutting, noir), as in Jinx. This is shorter and cheaper than Jinx, and it is quite good, but it’s really not as stylistically innovative or emotionally intense as Jinx. If you want to do a “starter Bendis” book to see what the hype is about, I’d suggest Alias vol. 1 or Torso (below), and if you want flawed-but-brilliant Bendis noir then Jinx is worth the price and size. Goldfish is more for a) people who are totally into David Gold’s character and b) Bendis freaks. I’m absolutely a) and have a mild case of b). So I liked this, but you needn’t run out and buy it.

Human Target: Final Cut: This is a stripped-down, very basic rendering of the book’s core idea: a man who can perfectly impersonate anyone else, who acts as a decoy for people whose lives are threatened but who feels his own identity dissolving into the many masks he has to wear.

I thought this was much better than the merely-competent earlier volume. I’m not sure why, though. Maybe it’s just that this storyline feels less random, more designed specifically to play to the concept’s strengths (it’s set in Hollywood, perfect choice), and less convoluted. Liked this a lot.

Torso: Bendis true-crime piece about Eliot Ness’s battle to crack a Cleveland serial-killer case. Black and white, like Goldfish and Jinx. Phenomenal use of space and panel shape to create atmosphere, “tone of voice,” and pacing. Excellent facial expressions.

Really, this is fine stuff. You know how James Wood, the New Republic literary editor, always picks the exact right word for every situation? And you know how it can get showoffy, cloying, and distracting–too perfect? Bendis at his best is like if James Wood a) made comics and b) knew that sprezzatura is preferable to mannered perfection. All the precision with none of the prissiness.

Watchmen: I have very, very little to say about this. It was breathtaking. This book is exactly as good as everyone says. The striking, distilled characters; the powerful presentations of moral dilemmas; the ferocious interweaving of different narrative strands and symbols; this is for real. I can’t believe I put off reading this for so long. This is canon fodder–and not solely the comics canon, which is boringly obvious, but the ultimate canon where all art forms converge. This is A-level art. This is the $#@!

Do yourself a favor. Don’t bother reading reviews or whatever. Don’t make the mistake I made of leafing through this in the comics shop and saying, “Eh, not so much, not today”–Watchmen needs to be read with more attention than you can give in a comics shop. Just buy this and read it. Daggone.

(There are also obvious contemporary political applications: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)

Sigh, I have some less than complimentary things to say about the Jess Lemon review, but my comments on that are basically unrelated to Watchmen itself so I’ll save ’em. Be grateful. But these passages are absolutely right:

“What makes WATCHMEN great, though, is that it’s got a beautifully formed aesthetic–it’s pretty clear that somebody sat down before they started writing or drawing and decided what it was going to look like, what sort of pacing it’d have, how exactly the story was going to be told, what things they would and wouldn’t do in the telling. They figured out how every chapter and every page would be structured, what kinds of clothes people would be wearing, what the architecture and geography would look like, how transitions between scenes would work, how cars and street furniture and household appliances would be designed, what kinds of information would be revealed or concealed or only partly displayed, and how all of those things would relate to the overall meaning of the book. That kind of formal planning takes a certain amount of effort to do, but it pays off so much. …

“…And those six full-page frames at the beginning of the last chapter hit me like a brick, and I realized afterwards that it was the first time in the book that we’d seen one image from the story proper occupying an entire page. That’s such a pure comics moment.”

And I don’t know if anyone cared about my whole Spanish Tragedy/superhero comics parallel post, but if you thought that was cool, and for some bizarre reason you haven’t read Watchmen already, you’re in for a real kick in the head.

Visible shivers running down my spine….

“What is the cause of thunder?”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 21, 2003

Next Post

October 21, 2003

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Best-Of Gay Catholic Whatnot Mackerel-Snapping self-obsessed Too much is never enough Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Boaz's kinsman-redeemer?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ruth Naomi Elimelech Unnamed relative