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Children & God #2

It looks like I never even mentioned in my last review the role of Islam and the Quran in these comics, even though it’s a fairly constant theme.  Hey, that’s why they pay me the big bucks, that level of attention to detail.  The second issue of this series is a bit less dense but still packed with more than a few fascinating observations.  Topics in this one include the horrors of war, donating a soccer ball to an “ungrateful” Iraqi child, blue lips, a spitting baby, a buttercup as a medical aid, the oppression that wasn’t glamorous enough to make the evening news, the idea of outer space as a purely hypothetical area, and a self-contained story dealing with x-ray specs as a child and believing in them fully.  I should mention too that all these concepts bleed into each other (except for that last story), constantly overlapping and expanding on each other.  It’s a mesmerizing thing to watch.  There’s one more concept explored in here: creation.  Of the world, that is.  The Christian idea is rightly mocked, and the Muslim story… well, I checked a bit online and the one I’m seeing is more like the Christian version, but the 0ne given in here as “laid down on our tongues” is flat out crazy.  Is that an intolerant thing to say?  Does it make it more or less OK if I say that I think all creation stories outside of the scientific one are equally crazy?  Anyway, the end of the story given here is that the Guardian of paradise gives the inhabitants some grain to eat (after having never eaten), they crap it out (as humans do with food), then tried to hide the feces in their shame.  God, being all-powerful and all, smelled it (which they were trying to hide under their armpits), and kicked them out of paradise.  For crapping.  I’m going to assume that that’s more of an old legend than the official version of the creation of the world, and if it’s entirely made up by Kelly than kudos, as it’s brilliant.  Insightful, politcal and timely, comics this good don’t come out every day.  $5

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Children & God #1

I’ve said it before on this website, and it’s as true now as it ever was: if you’re going to do good autobio, it helps to have something interesting to write about. Kelly has that down from the start, having spent years in Asia and Central America. This comic isn’t a linear progression of events; it could probably work just fine as a collection of short stories if that was the way Kelly wanted to go. It is all held together though by the idea of holding onto one’s identity in the face of oppressive rule (from the Russian’s in the 80’s) through all kinds of adversity. Subjects in here include celebrating while poor, prayer, finding places of beauty, holding onto language when you’re told that there is only one (new) proper way to speak, the quiet death of a community, and, above all, being a child and trying to live through all kinds of cultural changes. If this sounds like a lot for one mini to deal with, well, that’s true. I’ve rarely seen a comic come out of nowhere with this level of attention to detail, this much sheer artistry on every page, that also manages to tell such an important and compelling story. It’s a welcome reminder of why I keep plugging away at this website, in the hopes of getting work like this out to a slightly larger audience than would otherwise see it. $5