Sarjakuvista vai Raamatusta?

Seurakuntalaisen kommenteissa pyörii pari kreationistia, joten seuraan sivuston tiedeuutisia ahkerasti. Harvoin sieltä ilmenee mitään järisyttävää uutta juttua. Sattumalta huomasin melko hauskan uutisen:

Supersankarin suusta vai Raamatun lehdiltä?

Amerikan raamattuseuran teettämän tuoreen internetkyselyn mukaan lähes kaksi kolmesta yhdysvaltalaisesta aikuisesta ei tunnistanut raamatunjaetta "Me olemme kaikin tavoin ahtaalla mutta emme umpikujassa, neuvottomia mutta emme toivottomia". Värssy on pakanain apostolin Paavalin käsialaa ja otettu hänen Toisesta korinttilaiskirjeestään (2. Kor. 4:8).

Kyselyyn vastanneista suurin osa piti lausumaa joko mustien kansalaisoikeustaistelijan, baptistipastori Martin Luther King Jr:n, edellisen Yhdysvaltain presidentin George W. Bushin tai hiljattain valkokankaallakin nähdyn supersankari Kapteeni Amerikan sanomana.

Uutinen sai minut selaamaan sarjaku... graafisia novellejani. Kaivan esiin lainaamisen arvoisia pätkiä, jotka sopivat jollakin tapaa kieroon maailmankuvaani. Ne eivät ole mitenkään syvällisiä tai filosofista debaattia stimuloivia, mutta ainakin palaan niiden pariin silloin tällöin.

Fables - The Good Prince sisältää Frau Totenkinderin ja Hirviön välisen vuoropuhelun, jossa paljastuu, ettei juonia punovan muinaisen noidan tarvitse olla sydämetön.

Totenkinder: For centuries I've been gathering my strenght, carefully positioning my resources.

Beast: You mean to say you have been using us the same way the Adversary uses his minions? Which makes you just another variety of puppetmaster, pulling different strings?

Totenkinder: Not at all, dear boy. You imply I have no real affection for you. But in truth I've grown quite fond of my community here. You've made me ever so much more welcome here than I've ever been before.

Fables - Witches näyttää kuinka Frau Totenkinder ottaa vihdoinkin kovat aseet käyttöönsä. Hän loitsii tutusta esineestä esiin sen muinaisen muodon.

And finally my most ancient item. My stronghold. I name you Capture.

Keinutuoli muuttuu piparkakkutaloksi.

I recall another of your forms, even more ancient. And I also name you Refuge.

Piparkakkutalo muuttuu vartiotorniksi.

And finally I recall your oldest shape - the altar stone on which I first sacrificed the life of my old child. And I name you by your first names.

Damnation and Regret.

Vartiotorni muuttuu kivialttariksi.

And Burden.

Kivialttari muuttuu riimuriipukseksi.

So many names. For so terrible an engine.

Silmäkulmaani ilmestyi kyynel, kun luin tuota kertomusta ensimmäisen kerran.

John Constantine Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations. Constantine vie ilkeän miehen kuulusteltavaksi tukalaan paikkaan.

H-hell? H-how did you get me to... to hell?

Let's say I've got a season ticket. Your ticket, though... it's strictly one way, pal. Unless you start talking.

The Walking Dead - No Way Out 14 albumi loppuu melko tunteikkaalla tavalla. Rick Grimes ei ole menettänyt toivoa kaiken kauhun keskellä.

I think about the road ahead of us, and for the first time it seems long... and bright. After everything we've been through, all the people we've lost... I suddenly find myself overcome with something I thought we'd lost... Hope.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Black Dossierin sisältä löytyy ratkiriemukasta Bertie Wooster & Jeeves seikkailu, jossa Bertie kohtaa melko yllättävän veikon Dahlia tätinsä kartanosta.

He told me about friends of his who come from Yuggoth, which I would imagine is some town in Massachusetts, or perhaps and outpost like Rhode Island since he specified it was "beyond the rim." He made it sound very interesting place, at any rate, and even offered me a trip there with, as he said, my intelligence contained in an appropriate vessel. I imagine The Queen Mary was the vessel that he had in mind, and I'll admit to being flattered by the way he'd noticed my intelligence on such a short acquitance, since it is a quality that far too many people seem to overlook.

He rattled on like this for absolutely ages, telling em about all these retired chaps that he knew, "old ones" as he referred to them, who'd apparently been overseas or somewhere, but where anxious to return here "when the stars where right." I believe he mentioned an endearing rogue called something like "Cool Lulu," which to my ears sounded like it could be a Red Indian name, who seemed to lead a leisurely, agreeable old life, sleeping and dreaming at a place called Riley, possibly a reservation of some kind.

Garth Ennisin versio Tuomarista pääsee oikeuksiinsa The Punisher Max albumeissa. Löytyvät hyllystäni kovakantisina. Aloituksena Frank Castlen muistelua siitä mistä kaikki alkoi.

The world went crazy on a summer's day in Central Park, in the time before uzis and berettas, before nine millimeter popguns ruled the streets.

It was thompson, like the old ones our fathers carried, and I recognized its rattle even as its big, man-stopping forty-fives punched blood and breath from my lungs.

I hit the ground beside my daughter. She'd been gutshot, badly, and when she saw the things that boiled and wriggled from her belly the expression on her face was not a little girl's.

My wife bled out on the operating table, her heart a gaping hole her life drained through. Whenever I get careless, that yearning in her eyes keeps me up and brings me to my knees.

Right then the old man's soldiers started shooting back. My son dropped wordlessly, without a mark on him.

I took a breath that cut like glass, spat blood, rose to my knees, picked up the boy and searched in vain for the entry wounds.

The bullet had entered through his open mouth.

That was our picnic in the park.

And now.

Every night.

I go out and make the world sane.

Kolmannessa kirjassa on myös karmaiseva kohtaus, kun Frank Castle päätyy lapsillaan lapsipornoa tuottavan pariskunnan kotiin. Hän käskee äidin ja isän rauhallisesti kellariin, jossa on vanha sänky, videokamera ja alkuperäiset nauhat. Frank käyttää äänenvaimenninta (jotta lapset eivät pelästy, awww) teloittaessaan parin. Lähtiessään pois Frankin pään sisäinen monologi on melko synkkä.

"There are times I'd like to get my hands on God."

Garth Ennis on tehnyt myös mainion Preacher sarjan, jossa käydään mm. Paholaisen ja Kuoleman enkelin välinen dialogi, kun he pelaavat korttia helvetissä yli sata vuotta sitten.

Devil: What was that you were saying about the coming century?

Angel of Death: Well, if you think this one was bad – and it's not over yet – wait 'til you see what's coming next. The little mortal bastards come up with all manners of nastiness to use on each other.

Devil: I was at Bull Run, and the Crimea, and I've seen what the British are doing with all those herds of niggers. You're not talking to some kind of beginner here …

Angel of Death: Child's play. What about sixy thousand men mown down in an afternoon? Or a weapon that can vaporize a city? Or a factory set up just to kill? What about two wars that each drag in the whole wide world?

Devil: Bollocks!

Angel of Death: I'm serious. I've seen the plans.

Lainaus Lucifer - Children and Monsters albumista. Demonitar ihailee Luciferin lahjoittamaa miekkaa Lux-yökerhon savuavissa raunioissa. Taivaan sotilasenkelit ovat matkalla estämään valontuojan suunnitelmat.

"The swords are very fine."

Lucifer: "You know how it is. You put things away for a rainy day. Then you look up one day and it's raining angels."

Suunnitelmat sujuvat hyvin, sillä Lucifer saa luotua oman maailmankaikkeutensa Jumalan luoman maailmankaikkeuden viereen. Hän toivottaa vapaaehtoiset kosmiset muuttajat tervetulleeksi.

"You've been looking for a new world, and now you've found it. Congratulations, and a word of warning. Remember that my hand is outstretched above you - in a literal, not a metaphorical sense. There are certain things I won't tolerate. Don't bring the habit of worship here with you. Graven images, anthropomorphized abstractions, cosmic principles, they're all equally unacceptable. If you set up churches or call yourselves gods I'll destroy you. That's all. I don't believe in doves or covenants. You'll know you've displeased me if the sky turns black."

Tuskin kaikki lainaukset aukeavat sinulle, rakas lukija, jos et ole lukenut näitä kaikkia kertomuksia. Kirjahyllyni ovat pullollaan näitä albumeja.