{"id":12441,"date":"2015-06-21T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T17:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/punk-rock-jesus-media-savvy-second-comingreality\/"},"modified":"2015-06-21T17:05:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T17:05:20","slug":"punk-rock-jesus-media-savvy-second-comingreality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/punk-rock-jesus-media-savvy-second-comingreality\/","title":{"rendered":"Punk Rock Jesus: media-savvy second coming\/reality TV comic"},"content":{"rendered":"

mostlysignssomeportents<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Sean Murphy\u2019s Punk Rock Jesus<\/a> is a rockin\u2019 comic about the Second Coming. It opens with a
\npsychotically ruthless show-runner arranging to clone Jesus from DNA
\nsalvaged from the Shroud of Turin, implanting a foetus in the womb of a
\nteenaged virgin, all for a reality TV show that starts with auditions
\nfor the part of Christ\u2019s mother. Gwen, the desperate teen who gets the
\npart, is only one of the many memorable characters who make up the
\nresulting set piece: there\u2019s Dr Sarah Epstein, a brilliant geneticist
\nwho\u2019s been promised funding for a carbon-fixing superalgae if she helps
\ncreate the clonal Christ; there\u2019s Thomas McKael, an IRA soldier turned
\nsupergrass turned super-security director, and several others who come
\nto prominence as the story unfolds (including Cola, a genetically
\nengineered tame polar bear).<\/p>\n

\nThe story perks along for the first third, as the dismal life of Chris
\n\u2013 as the clone is called \u2013 is run out on the screens of America, and
\nin the high-security compound on an offshore island under constant siege
\n from militant Christian fundamentalists who are torn on the question of
\n whether Chris is the second coming or a mocker. Then there\u2019s a turning
\npoint where Chris becomes and adolescent and discovers some of the
\nseedier truths about his life and the miserable existence his mother has
\n been forced into all through it.\n<\/p>\n

\nThat\u2019s when Punk Rock Jesus is born. To a thudding soundtrack of vintage
\n punk smuggled in on vinyl (CDs would set off the metal detector) Chris
\ngives himself a mohawk, tears his clothes to rags, and surprises his
\nminders by stepping out on stage and declaring himself to be an atheist.
\n In the ensuing chaos, Chris escapes from the network and its evil
\nrepresentatives and makes his way to the drowned TAZ of lower Manhattan
\nwhere he becomes the front-man for a \u201cthe last punk band in the world,\u201d
\nthe Flak Jackets.\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd that\u2019s when the story really roars to life, becoming at once sillier
\n and more serious, but avoiding some of the ponderousness of the setup.
\nSerious questions of religion\u2019s role in society are raised; rock is
\nbepunk\u00e9d; dressing rooms are trashed; the media is expertly dissected.
\nIt\u2019s a near-perfect rocket-ship ride through some of the best material
\nfrom comics like DMZ<\/a> and Transmetropolitan<\/a>, with a healthy dose of radical atheism and geopolitics thrown in.\n<\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s got pathos, laughs, rage and comeuppances, and awesome punk rock not-giving-a-fuck. What more could you ask for? <\/p>\n

Punk Rock Jesus<\/a>\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

for ecoody<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

mostlysignssomeportents: Sean Murphy\u2019s Punk Rock Jesus is a rockin\u2019 comic about the Second Coming. It opens with a psychotically ruthless show-runner arranging to clone Jesus from DNA salvaged from the Shroud of Turin, implanting a foetus in the womb of a teenaged virgin, all for a reality TV show that starts with auditions for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-3eF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}