Visitations

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and moving
Review: I picked up this book at the San Diego Comic Con after it was recommended to me by Tom Beland (who writes "True Story, Swear to God" which you should also read). I found it to be one of the most beautiful and moving graphic novels I've ever read.

A distraught woman visits a church looking for some peace and quiet, but despite her pleas, she is interrupted by the resident minister who senses that she needs someone to talk to. She tells him that she does not believe in God. Unfazed, the minister bets her that he can convince her of God's presence simply by looking at three random stories in the morning's newspaper.

Each story the pair reads is filled with the sort of tragedy and loss that is commonly associated with the news. Nevertheless, the minister makes a case that God had a hand in each instance.

The woman remains unconvinced. In fact, the news articles upset her even more than she had been already. She is, however, "saved" by what can be interpreted as a moment of Divine intervention or perhaps as just a lucky coincidence.

What makes "Visitations" special is that it isn't reason that brings the woman around -- it's faith. Faith in God is a choice, not something that can be proven. The story's ambiguous ending gives readers that choice too. It doesn't insist that "this *is* true." Instead it asks, "what would you believe?"

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and moving
Review: I picked up this book at the San Diego Comic Con after it was recommended to me by Tom Beland (who writes "True Story, Swear to God" which you should also read). I found it to be one of the most beautiful and moving graphic novels I've ever read.

A distraught woman visits a church looking for some peace and quiet, but despite her pleas, she is interrupted by the resident minister who senses that she needs someone to talk to. She tells him that she does not believe in God. Unfazed, the minister bets her that he can convince her of God's presence simply by looking at three random stories in the morning's newspaper.

Each story the pair reads is filled with the sort of tragedy and loss that is commonly associated with the news. Nevertheless, the minister makes a case that God had a hand in each instance.

The woman remains unconvinced. In fact, the news articles upset her even more than she had been already. She is, however, "saved" by what can be interpreted as a moment of Divine intervention or perhaps as just a lucky coincidence.

What makes "Visitations" special is that it isn't reason that brings the woman around -- it's faith. Faith in God is a choice, not something that can be proven. The story's ambiguous ending gives readers that choice too. It doesn't insist that "this *is* true." Instead it asks, "what would you believe?"

Rating:
Summary: There's A Problem Here
Review: Writers better than Scott Morse have written themselves into corners when they try to write about how we are all interconnected and that seemingly random events all have deeper meanings. A work of fiction is a stacked deck, which makes it hard to supply meaning to random circumstances as the reader knows the whole thing is contrived to begin with.. Of course things work out neatly. (That was the problem with that Signs movie too.) This makes the central conceit of this book is a cop out. A well meaning cop out, but a cop out none-the-less. Morse wants to say something profound about that which we do not understand, but he accidently makes himself the deus ex machina.
The art's okay, and maybe his other books are better. This is the kind of book that reminds me indy comics can be as goofy as their mainstream counterparts.
Glad that's settled.