Royals #1- A Message to Marvel Comics

STORY BY

Al Ewing

ART BY

Jonboy Meyers

COLORS BY

Ryan Kinnaird

ReLEASE DATE

5TH APRIL 2017

PUBLISHER

Marvel Comics

‘We forgot the meaning of love’ drones the laughably juvenile dialogue, and off they go into space, a bunch of cutesy lesbians, trusting in some obviously villainous bloke who told them there’s a special ‘magic’ prize hidden at the end of the Care Bear rainbow in space.

And Marvel still doesn’t understand why readers are turning away from their books?

What exact readership demographic is Marvel looking to attract here? After reading Royals #1 I can only assume that it’s the pre-teen girls who are questioning their sexuality demographic, because there’s not a lot in this for anyone else, especially young boys. If I had read this book as a ten year old version of myself then I would have been 100% convinced that I had just accidentally read a girls comic book, and not a very good one either.

Okay Marvel, keep writing girly books where you try to convince everybody (including yourselves) that there’s no difference between the genders, but recognise that these comic books will only ever appeal to social justice warrior activists, and your sales will continue to decline. Do you really want to destroy yourselves with gender neutral love and feelings stories? All you are really doing here is whining that the world isn’t the way that you want it to be, and it’s getting a bit embarrassing.

Marvel, my old mate, it really is getting a bit silly now. You really need to stop with the leftist, race-gender-sexuality activism. The world that you are pushing for is a communistic world of perfect equality, where gender, race, politics, sexuality, religion, and everything else is merged into a creepy Borg collectivist whole of unquestioning love and acceptance. The world, the real world, can never, and will never be like that, and the more you try to achieve your impossible Marxist Nirvana, the worse that things will get for all of us.

Wake up Marvel. Take the red pill option that the rest of us are taking. We are forgiving people, and will look back at this period in your history when you got infiltrated by Marxist activists posing as writers, have a laugh at how silly it all was, and move on.

Get with the times Marvel. Recognise that the world is full of real diversity away from the Marxist deceptions of forced integration and mass immigration into western countries. Celebrate real diversity Marvel, real diversity away from the multicultural lies that are being rejected at the ballot box, in England, America and Europe.

Stop pretending that we are all the same Marvel. Reclaim national pride. America is great. Be proud of who you are. Stop pushing leftist victim groups as heroes. Stop hating on straight, white men. Fire the activist leftists who pose as writers. Get back to telling good stories, with recognisably masculine and feminine characters, who are defined by their actions, and not identity politics and how much of a ‘victim’ they are on the liberal scale of officially sanctioned oppressed groups.

You can do it Marvel. You were great before, and you can be great again. All it will take is a little red pill, a touch of courage, and the ability to recognise that you are walking towards a cliff, and it’s time to stop, change direction, and start walking back home. We are waiting here for you Marvel, we miss you Marvel, and we desperately want you back.


Rating for comic: 2/10 (A load of silly old, irrelevant pap) 

The Tithe #6- A Microcosm of the Insanity that is the Modern US Progressive Movement

Writer: Matt Hawkins
Co-Creator & Layouts: Rahsan Ekedal
Artist: Phillip Sevy
Publisher: Top Cow/Image Comics
Released: 21st October 2015



The unholy marriage between progressivism and Islam is exposed for all to see in this unintentionally hilarious, blind to reality, desperate not to offend PC comic book.

A violent hate mob of ignorant Islamaphobes.

I love it, I really do. This is a perfect case of giving a progressive US comic book writer lots and lots of rope, standing back and then watching as he trips, stumbles, falls on his arse, and inevitably ends up swinging from a noose of his own creation.

I don’t wish any misfortune on writer Matt Hawkins, I really don’t. I want him to keep on writing these comic books, to keep on talking down to his readers, and to keep on exposing the self-destructive madness that is at the heart of the US ‘progressive’ left.

In The Tithe #5 good old left thinking Matt engaged in classic, textbook progressive doublethink. He wrote a book about an Islamic suicide bomber blowing himself up in a Christian Church, but being a progressive type he couldn’t bring himself to blame Islam for the murderous event, so he did what any progressive would do in such a situation. Yes, he ended up blaming white, racist, far right Christian skinheads for the bombing instead.

Muslims would obviously never dream of doing such a dastardly deed. Of course not and all of the things that have happened in Syria and Libya over the past couple of years must be part of the right wing conspiracy as well, right?

The story in The Tithe #5 was outstandingly ‘progressive’ work from Mr.Hawkins, but he was missing that one vital ingredient in his politically correct cocktail. That ingredient is duly added in The Tithe #6. What ingredient am I talking about here? What is this progressive text missing?  Take a second, think about it, and then come back to this review.

What does every ‘progressive’ comic book need in 2015?

Oh no, that poor man. Who will save him?

If you guessed ‘Young woman of colour as heroic protagonist’ well done, because that’s exactly what is added in The Tithe #6.

Here she comes, the biggest cliché in contemporary comic books, jogging down the street, listening to feminist icon Beyonce, coming across a bunch of ignorant, racist ‘rednecks’ beating up a poor innocent Muslim, and jumping to his rescue with high kicks and empowered punches to the face. Oh, throw in the fact that she’s a Muslim, of course she is, and you have that progressive wet dream of a fictional character, the empowered Muslim girl fighting against evil, ignorant racists.

This empowered female Muslim character gets around quite a lot in comic books today, and she’s always fighting against evil men. Not Muslim men of course, she never does that, but she sure does know how to kick ignorant Christian butt. It's strange that, don't you think? Why is the liberal comic book world full of empowered Muslim girls who don't appear to be doing anything to stop what is happening within their own Muslim communities, preferring instead to kick a load of white guys around? Ummm, strange that, it's almost like comic book writers are trying to avoid something.

A couple of weeks ago the WWE toured Saudi Arabia. The female wrestlers did not attend the tour, and all of the shows played to male only audiences. Back home on US television the WWE continued to push it's female division as feminist icons for young girls to look up to, even though none of the female wrestlers said a word about not being allowed on the tour of Saudi Arabia. And what did feminists say about the WWE touring a country where females are not even allowed to drive a car? Absolutely nothing. That’s how pathetic it all is, and it just goes to show how blind to reality the modern feminist movement really is.

The progressive cliché heroine is the only addition to the narrative in 'The Tithe' this month, apart from a guest appearance by a right wing Donald Runsfeld look-alike politician. He’s the guy behind the skinheads, and his genius plan is to stage terrorist attacks all over the US in order to demonise the poor innocent, peace loving Muslims and to ensure he gets elected as the next US President.

Don't fret worried citizen, here comes liberal wet dream Girl.

I’m not joking here, that’s the actual story in The Tithe. This book is so ignorant to the reality behind extremist Islam (Sunni and Shiaa) that it cannot conceive that Islamic suicide bombers blow themselves up for the simple reason that they are faithful believers in the violently intolerant group-think, collectivist ideology that is the religion of Islam.

All of those beheadings and suicide bombings that we see every day on our television sets and all over the Internet in graphic detail, have nothing to do with Islam. No. It’s all a big right wing conspiracy of racist, sexist, white Christian lunatics, and as this book ‘progresses’ I’m sure that this devious plot will be uncovered by the progressive wet dream Muslim girl and her reluctant (he’s black, so he’s a good guy) cop father.

The whole thing is so completely ridiculous, not just because it flies in the face of reality, but because the FIRST people that would be blamed for any ‘Islamic’ terrorist attacks in the US right now would be right wing groups. It’s the first thing that would spring to the progressive mind, and that progressive mind is all over the mainstream media right now. It’s not a fringe belief, it’s the status quo consensus and it’s pushed by the corporate media on a hourly basis, not just in their ‘news’ reports, but all over their drama programming (usually about cops) as well.

Why do progressives always blame somebody other than Muslims whenever Muslims commit a terrible crime? For a recent example look at what happened in Israel last week with Palestinians randomly stabbing Israeli citizens in the streets. Look at who is getting the blame for that. It’s not the hate filled, knife wielding perpetuators, is it? No, it’s the Israeli’s who are getting the blame because they are defending themselves from getting stabbed.

That’s how ridiculous the progressive mind-set is. They have victim categories, and if you are not black, Islamic, female, gay, transgender, or whatever is trendy this week, then you must be part of some evil, sexist, right wing, patriarchal conspiracy, as is pushed in this comic book.

The progressive left doesn’t appear to understand that if Islam starts to have a major influence in the west (and that is the goal) then the first people to be targeted will be the progressive left themselves. All of the victim groups that they themselves are supposed to be championing would be hit the worst. I’m talking about women who disobey their husbands, atheists, new-agers, homosexuals and many of the other groups in the west that are currently enjoying freedoms that simply do not exist in the Islamic world.

Under Islamic law many of the freedoms that have been won from the tyranny of the state over hundreds of years of western civilisation would disappear overnight. That’s why the state loves progressivism, that’s why the television and newspapers push it, and that’s why we should be doing all that we can to stand up to it and call it out as the self destructive ideology that it is.

The sexy agents of the US police state.

The progressive mantra of ‘tolerance’ is opening up the western world to a group of people who are as intolerant as you can possibly get, so intolerant that they will chop your head off in the street if you disagree with them.

The marriage between Islam and progressivism then is completely one-sided, with the soft left welcoming a patriarchal death cult that will put them to death as soon as speak to them. It’s completely nuts, and that’s exactly the kind of suicidal mindset that is exposed for all to see within the pages of this painfully PC comic book.

I’ll conclude this review by restating something that I said at the beginning. I love it, I really do. This comic book is perfect, and long may it continue. What it is unwittingly doing is exposing the self-destructive unreality that is at the heart of politically correct, identity politics progressive ideology.

Matt Hawkins has been given some rope, and just look at what he’s done with it. Great job Matt, keep up the good work. What you are exposing here is vital, and your attitude of tolerance towards violent intolerance is a message that we all need to understand, correct, and start to do something about, something that involves defending ourselves, rather than waiting for the inevitable downward arc of the Jihadi Islamic blade.


Rating: 7/10 (A vital comic book that must be read in order to understand the insanity that is at the heart of the modern US progressive movement)


* Credit goes to writer Matt Hawkins (really) for pointing out the differences between Sunni (Saudi Arabia, ISIS, Wahabi, supported by the west) and Shia (Iran, supported by Russia, feared by Israel, for very good reasons). There is some real ignorance and street level bigotry caused by a confusion between the two sects, and some of this is explored within this comic book, though not in the detail that I would like, plus it's very convenient for narrative and ideological reasons as it frames 'rednecks' as ignorant people who don't know the difference between the two groups. The problem with Islam is not our ignorance between the two major groups, the problem is bigger than that. It's a problem of an entire group of people that want to completely change every single thing about western civilisation and the freedoms that we now have after hundreds and hundreds of years fighting against the state, usually backed up by the collectivist ideology of religion.  Islam is a backwards, intolerant religion that does not respect women's rights and the right of the individual to live his life free from the collective ideology of religion. Islam is a step backwards, and the west needs to be very, very careful with it.

Action Comics #45- Fifty Word Review- Break out the Purple Hair Dye, it’s SJW Time

Writer: Greg Pak & Aaron Kuder
Art: Scott Kolins
Publisher: DC
Released: 7th October 2015


Awesome retro cover necessitated purchase. Interior art washed out, lacks bright colouring. Narrative has too many PC social justice ‘progressive’ clichés. White man is bad, a sexist. All female characters are saints, as are people of colour. Computer geek friend for Superman. Villains called ‘supremacists, they are white men, obviously.


Rating: 4/10

It’s not terrible. The Monster month variant cover by Dave Johnson is great, and the narrative idea of a Superman on the run from various groups working within the violently coercive machine that is governmental authority, has potential. Don’t expect anything truly rebellious though. Superman is all about social justice these days, and the book quickly becomes a case study in how mainstream comic book writers have to bow, prostrate and give offerings to the weird cult of progressive, political correctness. Do they see it? Probably not, and that’s what makes it so damn creepy. They obsess over it, cradle it, worship it, live for it, and pretend that it’s not even there. Weird man, but that’s progressives for you.

The Paybacks #1 (Plus a rant about the general state of contemporary comic books)

Writers: Donny Cates & Eliot Rahal
Art: Geoff Shaw
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: 16th September 2015



I had a big list of new comic books to check out this week, but that’s going to have to wait now. Post office delivery issues mean that my weekly supply of comics is going to be a day late,  and as I’m not going to go into any comic book store without buying at least one book, I now have a copy of’ The Paybacks #1’ to review.

The Paybacks #1 follows a team of superhero debt collectors as they repossess super-powered gadgets from broke superheroes. The team are daft, their target (A character ripped off from Grant Morrisson’s Batman & Robin arc) is ridiculous, and the narrative proceeds with knowing ‘geek’ jokes and lots of silliness. The art is very cute, cuddly and colourful. It suits the tone of the narrative, that tone is ‘Let’s all have a laugh at the absurdity that is the comic book superhero genre.’

I read the previews, so I knew what I would be getting. I expected a daft superhero mickey-take, something inconsequential, but fun, and that’s exactly what I got.

Here are the questions:

- Was it riotously funny?
- Should I have picked it up when it first came out?
- Does it contain anything within the narrative that resonates with real world concerns?
- And lastly, will I be purchasing issue #2?

And the answers to those questions:

- It’s funny, not riotously so, but it’s trying to be silly, and it achieves that.
- No, I don’t regret not picking it up when it first came out.
- There is nothing in the book that has any relevance to the real world of 2015.
- No, I won’t be purchasing issue #2.

I picked up ‘The Paybacks #1’ after looking at lots of comic books on the shelves and coming to the sad realisation that I had zero interest in any of them. That’s a depressing situation. I’m a long time comic book reader, in a comic book store, and I’m struggling to find ANYTHING that I’m interested in. What happened? I used to have lists of the books that I wanted to read, but today that list has dwindled away to nothing.

Here’s what I found on the shelves during my long search for a book that I could read whilst having a sandwich and cup of coffee.

I started off by flicking through the ‘independent’ section, and noticed that a lot of the writers were mainstream names such as Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker. These writers have been producing unit shifter superhero books for as long as I can remember. I’ve read their work before, and I no longer have any faith in their ability, or willingness to connect with, or reflect the world as it is today. They might write ‘clever’ stories with competent structures, but are they actually going to say anything? They haven’t said anything before, so why should I expect them to say something now?

Having rejected the ‘independent’ books I moved on to the DC and Marvel sections, only to find book after book that was coming from a ‘progressive’ point of view and dealing with issues related to identity politics and political correctness. Oh look, a young girl protagonist, oh another one, and another one, and another one.

Look, I’m a bloke in his forties, so why the hell would I want to read about state agent teenage girls in daft costumes? Answer, I don’t. I find this comic book obsession with young girl protagonists to be creepy and weird, and I don’t want to read about their daft adventures in PC never-never land.

This agenda of ‘empowering’ women is getting ridiculous. Women in the west don’t need any more empowerment. Our entire western society has been structured around the needs and demands of women for over fifty years now. The Muslim world is where you want to go if you are advocating for women’s rights, not the west, but no, comic books won’t mention that, will they?

This pushing of so-called ‘progressive’ identity politics bull**** is corporate and cowardly and it backs up the status quo of human enslavement to a combination of state and corporate power elites. I find it to be insulting and dumb, and targeting the young. The sad thing about it is that this relentless onslaught of third wave feminism is telling young men that there’s something wrong with them, just because they are men.

What are they trying to do here? They do realise that there are inherent genetic differences between men and women, don’t they? They do realise that men and women have had clearly defined roles for thousands of years, and that these roles have helped humanity survive and prosper for all of human history, don’t they? Oh God, I don’t think that they do. They think that there’s no such thing as gender, don’t they? They are insane, they really are, and they don’t even know it. They are writing about imaginary crazy villains, but the craziest people are the writers themselves. They are real world crazy. The kind of crazy where you don’t even realise that you are crazy in the first place.

These crazy comic book writers obsess over race, gender and sexuality, thinking that having a young girl kicking somebody in the face is an empowering thing to write, and they do this whilst ignoring all of the real issues that dominate the every day lives of their readers. Issues like unrepresentative democracy, the violent coercion that is statism, media manipulation, wars based on lies, fought by the poor, and keeping the 1% in their positions of power where they dominate the world like a comic book villain on reality steroids.

It’s 2015 and I don’t need race, gender and sexuality politics shoved down my throat like it’s 1982 and I’m in a student dormitory with a big bloody picture of Che Guevara on the wall. Comic books need to get with the times, as at the moment they are doing an absolutely terrible job of it.

The US comic book industry of today reminds me of the UK Labour party with their ‘new’ grey-haired leader straight out of the 1970’s. Unable to deal with anything that’s happening now, they go back to the past in the hope that they’ll find something useful that will reconnect them with the issues and concerns of the neo-liberal consensus world of today.

Here’s a spoiler, it won’t.

If comic books keep down this progressive path of wilful ignorance they’ll end up in the same rubbish bin of history that is currently reserved for Jeremy Corbyn and his completely out of touch Labour party.

All I am saying is wake up, look at the calendar, and start talking about the world as it is today. Is it really that difficult? It isn’t 1926. Women have all of the rights of men. There is no 'Patriarchy' there is no 'rape culture,’ nobody cares if you are gay and nobody cares if you are a black or white, or a girl or a boy.

Comic book writers need to get with reality and pull their thumbs out of their regressive progressive, communist collective a*** holes. They need to do it now, because at the moment they are becoming an absolute joke with this identity politics nonsense.

Okay, rant over, I feel better now. Back to the book that I’m supposed to be writing about…

I purchased ‘The Paybacks #1’ not because I thought that it would be any different to the neo-liberal ‘progressive’ norm, but because I knew that if nothing else, it would be a bit of a laugh.

I did laugh, a bit, but there’s nothing of substance here. It’s a one joke book. Superheroes go broke, and it takes other superheroes to repossess their stuff. That’s all there is to this one, and even though the final panel recognises that weakness, hinting at a ‘darker’ tone as the series progresses, there’s not enough here to make me want to stick around to see if it has anything more to offer than occasionally amusing, but really quite tame, superhero genre jokes. It doesn’t get too bogged down in the identity politics quicksand of the Marvel and DC universes, but you have to offer me more than an occasional chuckle if you want to have me coming back for more.


Rating: 5/10 (Offers the occasionally laugh, but it’s not particularly clever or insightful)

Comic review: Journey to Star Wars- The Force Awakens-Shattered Empire #1- Identity Politics Golem

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Publisher: Marvel (Disney)
Released: 9th September 2015



Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens-Shattered Empire #1 is the most underwhelming ‘Star Wars’ book that I’ve ever read.

The story starts at the end of the final battle in Return of the Jedi, and the main focus is a staple of mainstream comic books today, the pretty, young, empowered, female. The story unfolds from her point of view as she flies around shooting assorted villains before assisting Luke Skywalker in his escape from the soon to be exploding Death Star.

I don't remember that in the movie, but oh well, what can you do? As our society collapses and real freedoms diminish I guess it's all going to be about cultural marxism and identity politics now.

Who wrote this book? Let’s have a look, ha, it’s Mr Greg Rucka, he can always be relied upon to put out a good PC girl-power unit shifter. I’ve read so much of his stuff over the years, and it’s about as memorable as a mid-card WWE story line. (Note: The WWE cannot do stories, at all, they are terrible, really, really bad).

Greg Rucka is one of those names that you remember, but you can never quite recollect what book he wrote. He writes a lot, but what has he ever done that is actually good, or memorable? Was it Punisher? Could be. I stopped reading that one months ago.

Anyway, back to this utterly underwhelming book. This female warrior girl shoots up some villains, kisses her boyfriend, has a brief chat with Luke, and Han Solo, then goes back out on a ‘mop-up’ mission to kill some imperial soldiers that were left over from the main battle. That’s it, that’s all you are getting, thanks for buying the book, suckers.

Why the Darth helmet would I want to buy issue #2 of this series. Come on, somebody give me a reason, because I don’t get it. Am I supposed to like the girl warrior because she is pretty? Come on, there has to be more to it than that, because as far as her personality goes, she’s as generic as you can possibly get. 

I understand what Greg is doing here. I get it. He’s trying to write a ‘strong’ female character, the kind of character that is ten a penny in DC and Marvel comics in 2015.

Want a career in mainstream comic books? You better get writing about strong, independent (i.e. working for the government) pretty young females then. Give your ‘progressive’ character a military uniform or a wacky haircut and nose-ring, show her beating up some random men (preferably white sexist/racists) and you’re flying.

Am I being unfair here? Buy a comic book, any comic book, and judge for yourself. Strong, independent female characters (in other words, women acting like overly masculine men) are as ubiquitous as lies in mainstream television news broadcast these days. Every other comic book features an empowered female. It’s not ‘brave’ or ‘new’ or ‘edgy’ or ‘rebellious.’ It’s easy, boring, predictable and lame. Comic book writers are largely singing from the same song sheet here, and it’s getting really, really boring now.

What you are getting in Star Wars- Shattered Empire #1 is a comic book Golem, a character that is more about being a female than she is about being an interesting or engaging personality in her own right. She moves with purpose, yet has no semblance of life about her, at all. I don’t care about this Golem girl, not because she’s a girl, but because she is a two dimensional, generic character that has no memorable features, quirks or personality attributes. She’s clay, she’s not real, she’s a Rucka inspired Golem.

You can’t just put a girl in a role that men would usually occupy and expect people to care. I’m not obsessed with identity politics, so I need a bit of character, a bit of personality, a bit of life. Oh Greg, you’ve done it again. You’ve produced another unit shifter of a book. I’ve read it, reviewed it, and now I’m starting to forget about it already. Greg, I know you want to write about empowered girls, but please put a bit of personality into the next one that you launch onto the comic book reading public. It’s not enough that she’s a girl, I need a bit more than that.



Rating: 3/10 (Move on, there’s nothing to see here)

Comic review: Alan Moore’s Providence #3- A black, fishy comedy that mocks Christianity

Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Publisher: Avatar Press
Released: 12 August 2015



I’ve read this book more than a few times now, and have been afraid of reviewing it. The reason being, it’s complex, and a review wouldn’t be easy, and I don’t want to mess it up. However, I’ve read it again today, and can see a slither of meaning amongst the murkiness, and so, I’m ready to give it a go.

Fishy men collecting souls in bottles.

Okay then, so what’s it all about? I think that the following quotation (from the book itself) nicely sums it all up:

‘It’s leaking from the future.’

That’s how I see the book now. That’s why in issue #3 there are weird, disjointed dream sequences, giving hints that are confused (as all dreams are) with events that are currently happening in the life of the main protagonist.

Our man is dreaming of the future, but it’s mixed up with his every day anxieties, his feelings of guilt, and his longings for answers in the present. We are seeing the world through his eyes (as is reinforced by the diary extracts that follow the main comic book narrative) and the confusion that he is experiencing is being transferred into the reading experience of the reader.

The dream sequences (of the main protagonist) are explored in great detail during the diary sections of the book and expand the narrative after the main illustrated part of the book concludes. Within this diary section are clues for the reader, clues that hint at both what is happening, and what is to come. It’s a fascinating story-telling device, and something that adds so much to the comic book reading experience, adding subtle elements, and details that would otherwise have been lost within the necessarily truncated comic book story format.

After reading the main comic book text, and the diary extracts, I cannot help but conclude that our protagonist is a bit of a dim detective. He is preoccupied with homosexual urges that distract him from the clues that can be picked up by the attentive reader, and although he records everything, he is not exactly coming to any big conclusions for himself. I guess that’s our job. Our protagonist records the evidence, and it’s up to us to unravel and make meaning of it all.

Into the caverns of the mind.

Providence is an occult mystery narrative that is dropping clues as it goes along. It’s a complex, involving book, and that’s exactly what you want in a genre book of this type.

The protagonist has to be a bit dim, as he’s laying out the clues, not solving them. The enjoyment to be had here is in following the story, and speculating about what is going on, whilst always being a bit in the dark as the full picture has yet to be revealed.

As for the deeper meanings that lay behind the narrative, that’s even murkier, but at the moment I detect a black comedy that involves jews, fish people, and homosexuals. It’s hinted that all three groups are about to be persecuted by the upcoming Nazi regime, with the black comedy being that two of the group are real, and were persecuted, whilst the other is pure Alan Moore weirdness.

The main focus of Providence #3 is the aforementioned fish people. These half-human, half fish follow a religion that’s part Christianity, and part worship of an ancient Mesopotamian fish God called Oannes.

‘Oannes, in Mesopotamian mythology, an amphibious being who taught mankind wisdom. Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a man under his fish’s head and under his fish’s tail the feet of a man. In the daytime he came up to the seashore of the Persian Gulf and instructed mankind in writing, the arts, and the sciences. Oannes was probably the emissary of Ea, god of the freshwater deep and of wisdom.’
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Oannes

The fictional fish religion in Providence substitutes Oannes into the role of Christ himself, and is thus blackly blasphemous, disrespectful and contemptuous of Jesus Christ and Christianity as a whole.

Dream sequences include gratuitous nudity, be warned. 

What writer Alan Moore is doing here is insinuating that Christianity itself is a mixed up religion that has taken weird elements from earlier cult worship, creating a new cult that is equally as ridiculous as what came before it.

To further reinforce this point, the book concludes with the ‘Church of St. Jude’s Parish Newsletter.’ This is a comedic, absurdist attack on the origins of Christianity, mocking Jesus by making him a fish on a slab, resurrected and thus followed by all fish that have come after him as the one true messiah of all fish.

‘And they said, let us thake him out and hang him upon hooks that he may cure. Yet many tides did not pass before he was risen from his slab and was descended unto Heaven, through black abysses to dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever.’ (The Parish Church of Saint Jude, 138 Bridge Street, Salem, Mass. June- August, 1919)

Pretty silly, isn’t it? Christians are often mocked for taking allegorical Bible stories literally, but this really is taking things to a whole new level.

I have to point out that Alan Moore is picking very low hanging fruit here in mocking the origins of Christianity. It’s something that is allowed, and even encouraged, so I’m not going to applaud him for doing it. If he was mocking Judaism or Islam then I’d applaud him, but he’s not doing that, probably because doing so would be truly controversial, and dangerous.

Alan Moore is not being brave, or outrageous, or scandalous, or cutting edge in mocking the origins of Christianity and talking about a weird fish cult, insinuating that Christianity itself is pretty much the same thing. Sorry, he’s just not. He’s doing what you are allowed to do in our neo-liberal, atheist times, but he’s doing it very well, and Providence is noticeably superior to 99% of the other comic books that I read on a weekly basis.

Providence #3 then is a studious, intelligent, dark occult comic book, but it’s also, very much nestled within the centrally planned social consensus norms and mores of our neo-liberal, cultural Marxist times. Get it, enjoy it, have a laugh with it, but please, recognise it for what it actually is.


Rating: 9/10 (Blackly comic tale that is mocking the origins of Christianity)



Note:
I do realise that Providence is packed with references to H.P Lovecraft and that this book is more than likely a progressive/liberal critique of the identity politics issues within his work. I recognise that, but as I’m not particularly familiar with the PC thought crimes committed by H.P Lovecraft I’ve reviewed this new book by Alan Moore as a stand-alone text.