Punk Rock Jesus

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Punk Rock Jesus
Punk Rock Jesus Issue 1 Cover Art by Sean Murphy Apr 2012.jpg
Cover art for Punk Rock Jesus #1 by Sean Murphy.
Publication information
Publisher Vertigo Comics
Format Limited series
Publication dateJuly 2012 – January 2013
No. of issues6
Main characterJesus
Creative team
Created by Sean Murphy
Written bySean Murphy
ArtistSean Murphy
Collected editions
Punk Rock Jesus ISBN   978-1401237684

Punk Rock Jesus is a six-issue limited series comic book created by Sean Murphy and published by Vertigo. The series ran for six issues from September 2012 to January 2013 and was collected as a trade paperback in April 2013. [1]

Contents

Background

The first issue was released on July 11, 2012. The series was written by Sean Murphy and published by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo Comics. Murphy started writing the series 8 years earlier when he was a Catholic and since then had become an athiest. [2]

Plot

In 2019 an entertainment company named OPHIS (Greek for serpent) starts what's known as the "J2 Project", a plan to resurrect Jesus Christ. A clone of Jesus Christ is made with DNA from the Shroud of Turin. The young Jesus is raised on an island with his entire life dictated and televised and viewed by nearly the entire world. Faced with these stresses the young Jesus ultimately becomes a rebellious punk rocker. Religious zealots either love or hate the show and politicians begin to fret over potential influences on the nation. The scientific community fears the implications of the cloning itself. [3] [4]

Reception

Giving the book a rating of 8/10 in PopMatters, Shathley Q. Abrahams praised the series saying it's "the best kind of scifi–a meditation on liberty for the cyber-age." [5] Cory Doctorow praised the book writing on the blog Boing Boing saying "It's a near-perfect rocket-ship ride through some of the best material from comics like DMZ and Transmetropolitan". [6] Brendan Frye, the editor-in-chief of Comics Gaming Magazine, gave the first issue a rating of 9/10 praising it for having "wonderful artwork and an intriguing storyline". [7] Barry Thompson gave the series a 9.5/10 rating in Paste Magazine , writing that most depictions of Jesus in popular culture aren't innovative and rely on trope, whereas Sean Murphy's Punk Rock Jesus subverts tropes and is an interesting depiction of Jesus. [8] John R. Parker praised the series in ComicsAlliance calling it the "most innovative, intelligent, and moving comic book to deal with religion and politics in a long time." [3]

The series spent three weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list reaching #4 for best Paperback Graphic Books. [9] [10] [11]

Awards

AwardDateCategoryResultRef.
IGN Awards2012Best Comic Mini-SeriesWon [12]
Utopiales 2014The Prize for best science fiction comic stripWon [13]

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks
TitleMaterial collectedPublication dateISBN
Punk Rock JesusPunk Rock Jesus #1–6April 9, 2013 978-1401237684

See also

References

  1. ↑ Truitt, Brian (August 4, 2012). "Losing His Religion: Author Crafts Sci-Fi Punk Rock Jesus". Ottawa Citizen . USA Today. p. 47. ISSN   0734-7456. OCLC   8799626 . Retrieved April 1, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Langshaw, Mark (April 9, 2012). "'Punk Rock Jesus' unveiled by Vertigo". Digital Spy . Hearst Magazines UK. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Parker, John (April 2, 2013). "Sean Murphy's 'Punk Rock Jesus' Asks All The Right Questions [Review]". ComicsAlliance . Townsquare Media. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ Raiteri, Steve (July 1, 2013). "Punk Rock Jesus". Library Journal . Media Source Inc. ISSN   0363-0277. OCLC   818916619. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  5. ↑ Abrahams, Shathley Q. (July 17, 2012). "Just Another Nightmare, From Which I'm Trying to Awake: "Punk Rock Jesus"". PopMatters . OCLC   1122752384. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  6. ↑ Doctorow, Cory (April 9, 2013). "Punk Rock Jesus: media-savvy second coming/reality TV comic". Boing Boing . Happy Mutants. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  7. ↑ Frye, Brendan (September 19, 2012). "Punk Rock Jesus #1 Review: Captivating Art, Intriguing Story". Comics Gaming Magazine. CGMagazine Publishing Inc. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  8. ↑ Thompson, Barry (November 26, 2014). "Punk Rock Jesus: Deluxe Edition by Sean Murphy". Paste Magazine . Paste Media Group. ISSN   1540-3106. OCLC   49937508. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Best Sellers: Paperback Graphic Books". The New York Times . The New York Times Company. April 28, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Best Sellers: Paperback Graphic Books". The New York Times . The New York Times Company. May 5, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Best Sellers: Paperback Graphic Books". The New York Times . The New York Times Company. May 12, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Best Comic Mini-series". IGN . News Corporation. November 30, 2012. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Palmarès 2014" [2014 winners]. Utopiales (in French). Nantes, France. November 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
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