Comic review: The Covenant #3- Bible story kicks superhero butt

Created and written by: Rob Liefeld
Illustrated by: Matt Horak
Coloured by: Ross Hughes
Lettered by: Chris Eliopolous
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 26th August 2015


The Covenant #3 is doing what I like my comic books to do. It’s keeping it simple, letting the story unfold and keeping the readers thrilled, excited and in eager anticipation for what is to come next.

They didn’t teach Bible stories at my school, and I never knew what I was missing out on. This story is a superhero story, with all of the constituents that you need to excel within that genre. It has bloodthirsty evil villains, brave heroes and a supernatural angle that makes you think that the humans might be the players, but there’s a bigger game going on here.

The Covenant is a comic book that brings God back into play, in a world that no longer believes in him. I like that. I like the fact that it’s so different, that it’s going against the mainstream atheist grain and telling a fascinating story about the history of the ancient Israelite and Philistine people.

This story can be given to children, but it’s not childish. The art helps a lot. It’s big, bold and uncluttered. It matches the script, which has the same uncluttered qualities. There is nothing needlessly ‘clever’ or ‘ironic’ or Kevin Smith post-modern about this book. It’s a good story, simply told, and clearly illustrated and, dare I say the word, educational.

It’s giving me fascinating, valuable insight into Biblical history, and I’m very appreciative of all of the people that have spent their time and energies on producing the book.

I’m being sincere here. Guys, thank you.

Three issues in and The Covenant is fast becoming my most anticipated book of the month. I shouldn’t be enjoying a story based on a Biblical narrative so much, but I am, it’s as simple as that.

There’s no feeling of emptiness here, a feeling I too often experience after reading mainstream superhero comic books. This is a story that resonates, and I’m enjoying every single second of the time that I spend with it. The Covenant is a Bible story that makes me want to know more about the Bible. It’s great, sorry atheist nation, but it is.


Rating: 10/10 (Revelatory Bible story that reads like a contemporary superhero tale)

Review: The Covenant #2- A Godless Society is a Vulnerable Society

Writer: Rob Liefeld
Artist: Matt Horak
Colours: Jeremy Colwell
Letters: Chris Eliopolous
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 8th July 2015



I found issue #2 of The Covenant to be far more accessible, easy to read, and enjoyable than issue #1. The narrative is linear, uncluttered and concise, so when events unfold it’s easy to correlate cause and effect, and to enjoy it as it happens.

The theme of the book is about what happens to a people when they become decadent, complacent and lose their faith in God. Loss of faith brings judgement onto a people. A people without faith are weakened and vulnerable to attack. Enemies seize on this weakness and take what is most precious to that people. In this book it is the powerful military weapon, the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant

The ark is a devastating weapon on the battlefield. The Hebrew people have used it before, and it has always given them victory, but this time it fails them. They call on its power, but it does not respond. Its carriers are slain, and the ark is captured, taken from the battlefield, and is now in possession of the snake-worshipping enemy of the Hebrews, the Philistines.

‘The ark is but a symbol. Without faith it is an empty vessel.’

The Hebrew people lost faith, and so their great weapon no longer protected them, that is why it was taken, that is why it did not work as it did before. A faithless people that has abandoned their God will no longer be protected, and they will become vulnerable to the enemies that were previously defeated through the power of faith.

Sounds fair to me.

Issue #2 of the Covenant concludes with the defeated Hebrews re-evaluating their defeat, appointing a new leader, and plotting to regain the ark, but will it ever work again for a faithless people who have deserted their God?

We’ll see, and as I’m not as familiar with this Bible story as I want to be, I cannot wait to see what happens next in this fascinating and massively insightful historical story.

I’m very much enjoying this book. It’s teaching me a lot, and as a child raised in a secular/atheistic society I very much appreciate having Bible stories in comic book form where I can read, learn and enjoy the many moral, philosophical and spiritual lessons that were absent in my early life.

The art by Matt Horak helps tremendously, and when I purchased the book today in my comic book shop, the guy working there (Hi Troy) commented that the art looks like some of Becky Cloonan’s friendly faced, accessibly cute work. I agree. It does look like some of Cloonan’s cute and cuddly art-work, and that is a huge plus as it brings an element of accessibility to the book, injecting a ‘fun’ factor that might have been lacking if the art had a darker, ‘edgier’ feel to it.

Because of the accessibility of the artwork you can read ‘The Covenant’ just as you would read any other contemporary, mainstream superhero book. The added benefit is that you are getting a story that is saying something important about man and his relationship with God, and not just another feminist leaning social justice warrior comic book that is pushing politically correct stories that have zero relevance to anybody.

I understand all too well that the atheist, Dawkins reading, arrogant, dismissive, patronising, science knows best, Marxist, feminist, liberal, progressive comic book readers (and that’s 90% of them today) won’t even consider reading a comic book that is based on a Bible story. That’s their loss. I hope they enjoy their teen girl superhero books, but I’m after something with a bit more depth and meaning these days, and a comic book like ‘The Covenant #2’ is perfect for me.

If you take a chance on this book you’ll get some great art and a story that shows the inevitable consequences that will befall a society when secularism, greed and commerce become the driving motivations behind human interaction. Nothing is new under the sun, and what happened before will surely happen again. That’s a lesson that we need to relearn, and that’s the lesson that is being re-told in this essential comic book.



Rating: 10/10 (Insightful, accessible and enjoyable)

Comic Review: The Covenant #1- A Blood Thirsty Cult & the Original Biblical WMD

Writer: ROB LIEFELD
Art: MATT HORAK
Publisher: Image comics
Release Date: 6th June 2015


I enjoyed this book very much, even though it’s narrative construction initially confused me. It begins with talk of the Ark of the Covenant being stolen by the Philistines, and a rescue attempt being planned. It then switches to a history of the Israelites/Hebrews, their exodus, Moses, the Ten Commandments, and the construction of the Ark that contains those commandments.

The book then proceeds to demonstrate the destructive power of the Ark, winning battle after battle, tearing down walls, and safeguarding the Hebrew people. It’s all done in an exciting way and drawn with a style that comes across more superhero than Bible story. It’s not all one point of view though. The Philistines themselves are personalised, and their individual intrigues are explored, as are their motivations for war against the Hebrews.

The book concludes with talk of a ‘Siege,’ so I guess the opening narrative with a small team of Hebrews looking to regain their lost Ark was set AFTER this siege, and that the Ark will be lost during it?

The story then will explore how the Hebrews lost the Ark, and then follow them as they attempt to reclaim it? I think this is what is happening, but it wasn’t easy to decipher, and that’s a problem. It should be easy, and I shouldn’t have to re-read the book just to make sure that I understand what is going on.

Despite the confusion, I’ll keep on reading, as this Bible influenced story intrigued me, a lot. It’s a tale about a decadent society growing complacent and abandoning their God. This sounds very familiar to me. It’s a tale not just of the past, but a tale about humanity as it is today.

What happens to a society when it abandons God? What happens when people work for market forces, and religion is bypassed, treated as a story, as a myth to be told to children?  How can such a people hope to survive, and do they even deserve to survive when all spirituality has been sucked from them, replaced by commerce, greed and complacency?

Does the following scenario sound familiar to you?

A largely Godless society is threatened by a bloodthirsty, human sacrificing, conquest hungry cult of religious maniacs. What should be done, and what would happen if that cult of maniacs got their hands on a weapon of mass destruction?

Was that controversial? Good, it was supposed to be. The scenario is not the latest news coming out of the Middle East, although it certainly does sound like it, doesn’t it? No, that scenario is what is being explored within the pages of this comic book.

In other words, ‘The Covenant #1’ is a mirror on the past that is showing us what is happening in the world today, and that is why it is must buy comic book.

I wish it success, and hope that people will give it a chance.

It can be read in a couple of ways. On the surface it’s an action packed comic book with mighty heroes and dastardly villains, with blood, swords and muscles and scenes of brutality and amazing weapons of supernatural magic. But it’s also a book about the waning influence of God, about secularism, about a bloodthirsty cult getting their hands on a weapon of mass destruction, and a small group of heroes looking to retrieve not just that weapon, but the influence of God on their complacent and decadent society.

The past is alive in this book, buy it now, it has something to say, and as anybody that reads comic books in 2015 is all too aware of, having something to say is a rarity in comic books today.


Rating: 9/10 (A brutal, action packed book about heroes, villains and a biblical weapon of mass destruction)

Alan Moore’s New Comic Book (Review)- Providence #1: An Open Doorway to the Occult

Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Publisher: Avatar Press
Released: 27th May 2015



Mr. Moore has a good story-telling technique going on here that just might entice the feminist liberal types into an understanding that there are deeper things happening in the world than they are at present conscious of.

The technique is to present his story ‘Providence’ through the eyes of a closeted homosexual, Jewish news reporter. The book is set in the post WW1 period in the US, a time and place where being a homosexual Jew might have a detrimental impact upon your career. This man has two huge secrets, and he has already experienced tragedy in his personal life. That tragedy links him to the main story, and with the idea that just as this man hides his deepest, darkest secrets in order to blend in with the everyday world, so does another more powerful group of people.

‘There is a concealed country, therefore, hidden below the society we show the world. Uncomfortable truth, it lurks behind our pretences.’

Sounds like a member of the illuminati speaking some truth behind closed doors, don’t you think? Throw in the fact that the man who is saying these words is obviously doing something that involves prolonging his own life, and you have a link to transhumanism, or the idea that man can become immortal through technology. Well, only certain kinds of men, obviously.

The Billionaire controllers of this world fear death so much that they are investing heavily in life enhancement technology. Why do they fear death so much, are they not religious people? That’s the issue. They are religious people, but rather than being on the side of God, they are on the side of Satan.

Transhumanism offers these criminal ‘elites’ the possibility of avoiding their inevitable day of judgement, when they will have to pay for the crimes they are committing against humanity. If they live forever, they will never have to pay for their crimes.

Providence #1 hints at these secret world controllers and transhumanism, but it’s not aimed at people like me, people who already talk about these kinds of things. Alan Moore is being clever here. He is strategically aiming the book at the generation of children who have been brought up by feminist liberal Marxist ideologies in their schooling. What he is doing in this book is giving them occulted truth that they might otherwise instantly (like a trained parrot) dismiss as ‘conspiracy theories’ and thus, not even bother engaging with.

By using one of their own heroes (a tormented gay guy) he is giving them exactly what they want to read, but placing occulted truths about the real nature of world power into that feminist liberal friendly narrative.

It’s a magic trick performed by a skilled master of misdirection. Look at the left hand, whilst what I am doing is concealed in the right.

The book itself is wonderfully crafted. It’s subtle, you have to take you time reading it, and there are joys to be had in re-reading it at least two times over, as trust me, you’ll see things on the second or third read through that you missed on the first. The book is literary, huge in scope, and is more of a novel than a comic book, even concluding with a long essay from the main protagonist in something called a ‘Commonplace Book.’

This ‘Commonplace Book’ clarifies not just the plot, but the sense of empathy that the reader will feel for the tormented protagonist, and as I’ve mentioned repeatedly throughout this review, that empathy is the key to getting Moore’s message across here.

Providence #1 is a fascinating book, not just because of the superior comic book construction skills of Mr. Moore, but because it’s hinting at deeper truths, and allowing readers an easy, open doorway where they can casually stroll through and discover those hidden truths for themselves. Mr. Moore, you are a genius, a very clever dude indeed, and I applaud what you are doing here.



Rating: 10/10 (Mr. Moore’s friendly invite into the world of the occult)

Review: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at the Globe Theatre London: April 24th 2015

The Merchant of Venice
Written by: William Shakespare
Directed by: Jonathan Munby

CAST (MAIN)

Bassanio: Daniel Lapaine
Antonio: Dominic Mafham
Portia: Rachel Pickup
Shylock: Jonathan Pryce

Dates of Performances: 23 April - 7 June 2015

Venue: Globe Theatre, London

Website (for tickets and more info):
http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/globe-theatre/the-merchant-of-venice-2015



I always hated Shakespeare. It was hard, boring, far too dense and about as much fun as a science or maths class. As a school-kid it was just another waste of my time, something I had to suffer through before a lunch time kick about or skive in the local village.

A song and a dance

Yeah, Shakespeare really sucked to me as a kid, and sitting there in class trying to correctly pronounce all of those old words that nobody I knew ever used was a completely joyless experience. By the time I left school at the age of sixteen years old I was glad that I would no longer have to suffer through any more classes of his hard to understand and completely fun free books.

I wasn’t that unusual as a kid. We all hated Shakespeare, the boring old git, and that was that. Fast forward twenty six years in the future though and here I am, standing in the ‘Yard’ of the Globe Theatre in London. What am I doing here? Is it a new job, or something I have to suffer through to pay the bills? No, I chose to go there, to give it a chance, and what I am experiencing is nothing whatsoever like what I had to suffer through as a kid.

This play, ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ is a bit good, the actors are amazing and it’s not even difficult to follow what is going on. It’s fun, it’s entertaining and I’m enjoying every second of it. Shakespeare isn’t supposed to be fun, is it? I’m watching this boring old Shakespeare play, and laughing at the funny bits, becoming completely involved with the serious bits, and having the best theatre experience of my entire life.

Love is in the air

What happened to me? Shakespeare was supposed to suck, but he didn’t. His play was pretty bloody good, funny, and it was saying things that people are scared to say today. We are talking about the J word here, yeah the play was about Jews, or one Jew in particular, a money lender, a man called ‘Shylock’ who was so full of anger and hate caused by the way he had been treated by good Christian folk, that he was prepared to cut a pound of flesh from the breast of a man rather than collect the huge sum of money that was owed to him. This Shylock was even prepared to do it himself, showing what a heartless, brutal character he really was, sharpening his knife and sorting out his scales, just to make sure he did a really proficient job of it.

Would you want to cut out a man's flesh in this manner, and do it with a little knife and then carefully place it on some scales? Would you even be capable of doing something as brutal as that? I wouldn’t, and wouldn’t this pound of flesh thing also kill the man? And why was the man strung up like he was being prepared for a crucifixion? What was that about?

Ahhh, I get it now. This wasn’t about revenge or anything like that, it was about mercy and how the Jewish people showed none to Jesus Christ, allowing him to be crucified, instead choosing to free a murderer called Barabas. So what this play (written in about 1596) was doing was giving the Jewish people another chance, another shot at showing mercy to a defenceless Christian.

Shylock is determined to have his pound of flesh

So when Shylock refuses, and insists on his pound of flesh, what is that saying? It’s saying that Jewish people are incapable of showing mercy, of forgiveness, of the very quality that defines the entire teachings of Christian morality. The only way that the character of Shylock can be redeemed is for him to be forcibly converted to Christianity and to renounce his Jewish faith.

It’s strong stuff isn’t it? Would you get away with saying something like that today? No chance mate, no chance at all, the accusations of anti-Semitism would bury your play before it even got through the first couple of performances, but because it’s ‘Shakespeare’ it can be put on in 2015 and nobody is going to say a word about it.

Amazing.

A play written in 1596 is more controversial than anything that I will see on television, screen or theatre in 2015. It says a lot, don’t you think?

I was standing there in the ‘Yard’, having paid a measly £5 to get in, and was in absolute awe. Not just because the play was far more controversial than I thought it would be, but because of the performances by a ridiculously talented cast, and the audiences reaction to it all as well. This was red-hot theatre, performed before an enraptured, packed audience, and I was being swept away to another era, a time when Shakespeare was alive, and this was the best show in town.

Shylock and his traitorous daughter

What am I saying? There’s a time portal at the Globe, and the best performance in town is simultaneously occurring in the 1600’s and in 2015 as well. The Merchant of Venice is the best show in town, of course it is, it always was, and it still is today.

Dominic Mafham, as Antonio, was exceptional. The melancholy of his character as written in the previews I had read before the play appeared to be self-indulgent and weak, but to see him brought to life by this fantastic actor was quite a revelation to me. I left the theatre feeling more intrigued about what was going to happen to that one character alone than any of the other characters in the play. His melancholy had substance, and the performance by Mafham nailed that substance, creating a person where before I had only read a character in a play.

Jonathan Pryce, as the villainous Shylock, was unbelievable. Like every great performer he bristled with charisma, with presence, with electricity, and when he was on stage it was almost impossible to train your eyes away from him, even when all of the dialogue was coming from the other characters. His mannerisms, his facial tics, his anguish, his pain, his need for revenge, his frustration, his joys at the misfortunes of others, the body language, the gestures. Oh my God, this guy was ridiculous. Jonathan Pryce was beyond exceptional, a man at the top of his game giving a performance directly in front of me that I could scarcely believe I was witnessing.

The spellbounding Jonathan Pryce as Shylock

If you are going to London, or if you live in London, or live anywhere near London, then you need to go to London NOW.

Forget your school day classrooms where bored English teachers slowly killed Shakespeare, line by painful line, and go to the Globe theatre and see it performed as it supposed to be performed.

The Merchant of Venice runs until 7th June, so see this wonderfully performed play if you can, but if you can’t get there for then check the schedules and go to see another play instead.

Any play will do, just get there for the early evening performance, pay your £5, stand in the yard, get aching feet, get close to the stage and experience Shakespeare as it’s meant to be experienced.

I always hated Shakespeare, but not now. The Merchant of Venice in 2015 is the best show in town. Controversial, funny, electric, and full of powerhouse performances by world class performers. If you just want to boil it all down, take away the history, the snobbery, the reputations and all of the baggage, what it really is, is a wonderful night’s entertainment at the theatre.

Banish those painful memories of old school English classes and reading dusty old books that you didn’t understand or give a toss about. See Shakespeare in the flesh, see it at the Globe, and then you’ll finally begin to understand just what all the fuss has been about.

Rating: 10/10 (A controversial, funny, intense play that features ridiculously accomplished performers)

Yahweh and the God of the Bible

It is highly unlikely that the ‘God’ of the Bible is the creator of the universe. All evidence suggests that he is just another god in a long line of gods. He goes by the name of Yahweh, even though he tells Moses that he used to go by the name of El. The original god of Israel went by the name of El, so it looks like Yahweh is usurping this old god, claiming Israel's people as his own. Perhaps he really was El; just like he claims, but the suspicious change of name is left unexplained. Anyway, they don’t use the name El or Yahweh in the Bible, as that would give the game away. Instead, Yahweh has become ‘The Lord God.’ This new title gives the impression that he is the only god, which evidentially he is not.

Read the Old Testament and it’s very clear that Yahweh is not the only god, that’s why he’s so jealous and angry all of the time. This is particularly clear in the book of Ezekiel where an extremely pissed off Yahweh spends all of his time ranting and raving about how he’s going to reign down death and misery on his disloyal followers. This is obviously not the all-loving God of creation. It’s a petty, paranoid, angry and spiteful god who is desperately trying to get control over his disobedient tribe of followers. It’s exactly what you would expect from a little god battling for supremacy. Oh, another thing, check out the following verses from the book of Ezekiel:

Ezekiel and his encounter with the Annunaki

4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

What does that sound like to you? The all powerful, omniscient creator of the universe, or something that you would expect to see on an episode of Star Trek? I know what it sounds like to me. This ain’t God and his angels. It’s some bloke and his mates in a space ship.

The Council of Nicea create the Bible

This is no God of creation. It is a little god, most likely a low-level member of the Annunaki trying to get himself a group of compliant worshipers/slaves. He would have been forgotten about a long, long time ago if not for the Roman Empire and the Emperor Constantine’s decision to turn the cult of Yahwism into the perfect control system for his unruly people. And that’s how it has been since the Council of Nicaea put together the book known as the Bible in AD 325. A little Annunaki god turned into the almighty God, and being used as a control system by the slave masters of humanity ever since.

There is some truth in the Bible, on an astrological, philosophical and allegorical level, but the God of creation? Nope, he’s not in there. It’s a control system of the rich and powerful, that’s all. It’s bloody obvious, all you have to do is read the book for yourself. That’s what I’ve done, and it’s the only conclusion that I can come to.

Some people might be asking whether or not the real God is in the Quran? Here’s my reply: Of course he bloody isn’t. The god of the Quran is the same god of the Bible. It’s just another wing of Yahwism. This is not my opinion by the way. Allah and Yahweh is the same god under different names, like Yahweh and El. They both come from the same original source, that being a bloke called Abraham, the son of a Babylonian priest who started all of this Yahwism nonsense. All of this is freely available and accessible knowledge. Research it for yourselves.  I’m not saying anything controversial here; all I’m doing is stating some truths that a lot of people would prefer to ignore. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all fighting over the same god. That god’s name is Yahweh. You’d think they’d get on a bit better with each other, wouldn’t you? But no, humanity loves a fight, and so they kill each other over minor details whilst ignoring the massive similarities in their control systems/faiths that really should unite them as a whole.

Yahweh was never God, he was a tribal deity promoted way above his original function. If you do more research on this topic you’ll find that Yahweh began his career as a frightened little hill god. That’s what the main picture above this article depicts, and don’t you think it looks more like a classic image of a UFO than a creator God anyway? It’s quite laughable really. Here’s a question. Where is Yahweh these days? He doesn’t appear to be here anymore does he? What do you reckon? Has he died? Is he still hiding up that hill? Did he ever even exist? Perhaps he was just made up by tribal leaders, and used as a control system in exactly the same way as the Romans used him?

If Yahweh was a member of the Annunaki he probably looked a lot like this

This is my opinion here, so please feel free to mock me. I’m reckoning that Yahweh was a low-level member of the Annunaki, and when they left, he left with them. Either that or he stayed behind and died many, many years ago, and that’s why we’ve heard nothing from him since. Either way, the Annunaki got what they needed from this planet, screwed it up big time, and then buggered off back to where they came from. We’ve been fighting each other over the mess they left behind ever since. Ain’t we just a big bunch of jokers, eh?

Oh, by the way, this doesn’t mean that there is no God, or an underlying collective consciousness, or whatever you want to call it, that binds us all together, giving meaning to our lives in this lonely, silly little realm of existence. That’s still out there, but that’s another story. All I’m saying here is that the deity known as Yahweh is not God. He never was, and I’m a bit surprised that so many people argue that he is. It’s not exactly hidden information. It’s all written down if you want to check it out for yourselves, and I suggest that you do. Don’t take my word for it. What the Hell do I know? I’m just a bloke who likes reading books, that’s all. I still recommend reading the Bible though. It’s a fascinating study of the history of human enslavement, and if you read between the lines you’ll find it an extremely valuable book that teaches us so much about where we are as a species today.


Links for further reading

Yahweh and El-
 http://contradictionsinthebible.com/are-yahweh-and-el-the-same-god/

Yahweh and Allah-
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7816.html

Ezekiel's wheels-
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case493.htm

The Summerians and the Annunaki- 
/http://www.sitchin.com/