Graven Images

Christine Hoff Kraemer holds a PhD in Religion and Literature from Boston University and is Department Chair of Nature, Deity, and Inspiration at Cherry Hill Seminary, South Carolina. A. David Lewis is a national lecturer in Comics Studies, an award-winning graphic novelist, and a PhD candidate in Religion and Literature at Boston University.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS; NEW INTERPRETATIONS; RESPONSE & REBELLION; POSTMODERN RELIGIOSITY.

"Every art form has told stories of faith, and sequential art embodiments have included Egyptian tomb paintings, the traditional Stations of the Cross, and Bible comics from the last century. With the recent graphic novel boom, religious themes and interpretations abound, mostly summarized in a dozen or so popular books like Stephen Skelton's The Gospel According to Super­heroes, Arie Kaplan's From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, and Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer's The Soul of Spider-Man: Unexpected Spiritual Insights from the Legendary Superhero. Graven Images appears to be the first to take a broader and more academic approach, collecting 21 essays from a conference of the same name held at Boston University. While most of the contributors have faculty appointments, five are comics creators. Themes range across religions and denominations, from expected topics (animistic and Christian themes in the manga/anime Nausicaä) to surprising ones (connections between religion and underground comics). VERDICT This varied and thoughtful collection invites more serious consideration of the medium thematically and hopefully presages additional conferences and collections. For all academic and larger public libraries." — Library Journal