Okay, I can see by page 10 why this comic upset so many people—even non-Christians. The god in this comic (indicated by a lowercase g) is a dick. As are most of the humans within Second Coming: Volume One. The book’s god calls all humans “jerks” and much worse. He swears like a sailor too. The author is definitely not portraying the God from your Sunday school class here. Not even the more vengeful Old Testament one.
However, jesus is presented more like you remember. He is just trying to help people. Superman-lookalike Sunstar tries to explain why some people are evil and deserve punishment. jesus is portrayed as a little slow mentally so there goes another 20% of this book’s readers. Meanwhile, jesus is appalled that he is represented by the cross that killed him. To be honest, that has the ring of truth to me.
Second Coming: Volume One has beautiful artwork. But a story that conflicts with the beliefs of 77% of Americans is probably not going to be a big seller. The reason other writers like Christopher Moore and Monty Python get away with their rewriting of Biblical stories is that their versions are clearly parodies. And, let’s face it, much funnier than anything in this “comic”.
Overall, though the art is great and the story very creative, the book can’t get beyond its controversial theme. 3 disappointed stars.
Thanks to Ahoy Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.