EN39 The World's Least Favourite Symbol
22/11/06 13:53 Filed in: 1 Corinthians
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
The christian worldview is something that can be pretty offensive if you understand it correctly. Read More...
EN38 The Adoption Process
01/11/06 13:53 Filed in: 1 Peter
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
This one was related to the whole Madonna/celebrity adoption fiasco that hit the headlines. Can a celebrity bypass correct protocols and take a child from africa? Isn't it in fact a compassionate move to share their lives with those less fortunate? Is it right to remove a child from his/her home situation and place them in the ultra-consumerist setting of a celebrity home?
The debates are many, but I wanted to use this situation to Read More...
EN37 Secular Sunday School
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
One of the regular things I am interested in exploring is the shift from a predominantly pre-war christian worldview to an overwhelmingly modern secular one. This strip pokes fun at the age-old joke among christians that the answer to every sunday school question is 'Jesus'. In a secular age God gets replaced with something else, and Google seems to be doing just that.
Just before doing this strip I had been slightly disturbed by the way in which Google had really achieved a fundamental role in the way I was operating on the web. I began to reflect on the link between the parallels between my online dependencies and greater worldview ones.
I just went for something really simple here with the carpet suggesting the worldview shift. I like dots.
The Zechariah bible text is something I had stumbled on in the early 90s when I had just started at university and was reading this magnificent old testament book. The images keep on reflecting something of God's omniscience and power for a people who were feeling the pinch.
EN36 Stockholm Syndrome/Happy Hostage
01/09/06 13:52 Filed in: 2 Timothy
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Probably one of the most chilling stories ever had come to light. I mused on the idea of 'Stockholm Syndrome' (a condition that I had heard of before) and thought that this is exactly what happens when people are faced with the amazing truth of Christ's rescue plan. The attachment to the slavery of this world really gets in the way of someone openly coming to faith in Christ, and it takes an amazing work of God's grace to bring them beyond themselves.
This is probably my favourite strip of the EN series. The title text is fundamentally part of the composition and the panels develop in a way that I personally get a buzz out of.
The dedication is for the three new workers in our church. I wanted to say 'thankyou' for their immense hard work and brilliant contribution to the family. I had better stop now before this gets into an Oscar speech.
EN35 Safety in Numbers
22/08/06 13:52 Filed in: Matthew
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Prejudice among trained professionals is something that is always shocking and hard to cope with especially when it is something highly personal that is at stake. This is a generalised reflection based on something I had heard from the lips of someone who should really have known better. The person in question had expressed the view that if you are a christian you are too narrow and should revise your 'wrong' ideas as soon as possible.
The composition aims to link the downward despondency of the christian in the tunnel with the security of the crowd before heading for the damning conclusion.
Christians can be guilty of smugness about the end of this life and it's terrible consequences before God. I wanted to portray the christian here as I think true believers will be at the end - surprise at just how sunny things are going to be. If we really knew how good it was going to be it wouldn't be a faith thing would it? I am looking forward to being surprised at just how great things are going to be.
EN34 Three Yellow Cards
01/08/06 13:52 Filed in: Psalms | Ecclesiastes
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Poor old Graham Poll. He was the inspiration for this philosophical debate based on the governing principles of a football match and what happens when you change things at the foundation level. There is a lame literal gag about shifting the goal posts that I just had to stick in there... the big idea here is that if you ditch the absolutes of God you are making a very serious step into relativism.
This was wrongly produced in colour... I thought we'd moved to a regular colour print but was put right soon after by John Benton.
Thanks to Radcliffe and Mike Tindall for their helpful comments online about this. I think I dedicated it to John and Demelza because they had both just moved on from previous ministry positions. Great people, much missed.
EN33 Fooling the Speed Camera
01/06/06 13:52 Filed in: Psalms
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
I have been obsessed with these things for ages, and this was a great chance to do something about it. A friend had been asking why it was that we slow down for speed cameras and then speed up after. I reflected on this and made this sequence where a person feels like they have fooled the law. The psalm 10 text makes the point that when it comes to God there is no fooling...
I love this one stylistically. One detail you may not notice is that the circles on the back of the box are actually shut eyelids. The box snoozes while being fooled.
This is based on the speed camera heading towards the marina seafront direction in Brighton. I want to make a film based on this one day.
EN32 The Wages of Wogan
22/05/06 13:52 Filed in: 1 Peter
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Terry Wogan earns a huge amount of money. I thought that this was well worth using because it raises the big question of 'who is worth that?'. The lovely thing about being a christian is that God places infinite value on us by giving His life for us on the cross. People with little or no self esteem can be cherished and cared for in the arms of God. Amazing.
I cheated a little here. The image comes from a set of three pictures I produced for the Brighton Festival Fringe.
Tim Bongers is the dedicatee. I did this specially for him and then the EN staff inadvertently chopped off the whole right hand side of the strip... it was made worse by me telling Tim to look for it. Sorry.
EN31 Planet Earth: did they plan it?
01/05/06 13:52 Filed in: Psalms
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
I really don't know if this point is that obvious, but I will try to explain it...
The Planet Earth series was hugely popular with lavish filming techniques and equipment being used to capture amazing things around the world. The ironic problem (as I saw it) was that while we were being expected to accept evolutionary assumptions about how the world is randomly gorgeous, the end 'making of' section undermines this idea. How can we accept hat the world is the way it is through chance, when that is the last thing that is being used to make the program. It is incredible how purposeful and creative the process is for the filmmakers - sometime spending weeks in a small room with a camera trying to capture a bird or some such creature. After watching the program you are amazed at how deliberate and personal every edit is, but are still expected to see nothing of the creator in the world at large.
I don't know if this is very clear, but at least I tried...
The parallel text and image layout is okay, but I think it actually confuses things. You have to really work hard at spotting the difference. Not happy.
Those are screengrabs from the episode where the elephants are swimming and some guy is chasing something in a helicopter.
EN30 Where Cartoonists Fear to Tread
01/03/06 13:52 Filed in: Acts
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
I really like this one. The Muslim cartoon protests were hitting the headlines big time. One of the things about doing this strip is that there are sometimes easy targets and then less obvious ones. The end example is something I am pleased with because it doesn't do the obvious thing of criticising Muslims - it goes one better (in my view) and asks the question what is sacred to the secularists?
Fundamental to the whole event is the attitude of the secular press toward sacred beliefs, and I wanted to turn the tables.
My favourite bit is the caps lock gag. Thanks to the editorial assistance from John Batchelor who was a good mate to us at the time. Man can he laugh.
EN29The 'Root of All Evil', so called.
01/01/06 13:52 Filed in: Luke | 2 Corinthians
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Richard Dawkins is an intelligent man with plenty to say about christianity and religion that is fundamentally flawed. A TV program was shown where he basically did a rather stupid hatchet job. I wanted to point out that this hero cannot continue to be such a thing if he continues making straw-man arguments.
I wanted to dedicate this to the Christians in Science organisation, who do a great job of portraying a thoughtful response to so much incredulity.