Punk Rock Jesus is a limited run comic book series composed of six issues that were written and illustrated by Sean Murphy. The first issue was published on July 11, 2012, by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo Comics.[1]
A web campaign to clone Jesus Christ before December 25, 2001, may have been part of the inspiration for the series. The campaign was called the Second Coming Project and turned out to be a hoax run by an underground book publisher.[2] In 2004 at the age of 23, Murphy started writing the series as a practicing Catholic. At 26 years old in 2007, Murphy became a militant athiest and began using the project as a means to express his frustrations and concerns with religion. In the following years leading up to the release of the series in 2012, Murphy became less militant about his views on religion and decided that a confrontational approach may not be the most productive. Murphy acknowledges that the series might be a controversial topic, but emphasized that he believes that if Jesus was cloned it's probable that we would turn it into a reality TV show.[3]
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.[2][4]
Issue #1: Conception
The first issue of the series focuses on the characters that are involved in the J2 Project and their perspectives on it. The clone of Jesus Christ, named Chris, isn't born until the end of the issue.[5]
The story begins with a traumatic event in Thomas McKael's childhood and shows his transition from an innocent child who grows up to be a member of the Irish Republican Army and was arrested for murder. McKael is hired as the bodyguard for the J2 Project.[6]
Gwen gave birth to twins. Chris's twin sister was dumped into the ocean by Rick Slate. Shortly afterward, Sarah Epstein is suddenly announces that she is pregnant with a girl.[7]
Issue #2: Genesis
At the end of issue 2, Chris is still an infant.[7]
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."[8]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".[9] 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".[5] 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.[10] 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."[2]Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review calling it a "compelling, searching, and important tale".[11] The series received a starred review in the LibraryJournal, where Steve Raiteri calls it "An audacious, nuanced, and hugely compelling tale".[4] James Hunt praised the first issue in Comic Book Resources saying it is "destined for cult success".[12] Oliver Sava praised the book in The A.V. Club, writing that the book demonstrates "remarkable inking skills" from Murphy.[13]
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