Serenity 9: Choosing Change

Serenity #9

by Stan Lee (Creator)

Serenity asks Eddie out on a date to make Derek jealous, but instead just confuses herself as she tries to figure out the rules and beliefs of Christianity; and, the gang stars in a film about Esther, the queen of Persia.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Manga, Christian Fiction, Ebooks, Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review CW: sexual assault of a child, porn mention

It would be a little much to expect a Christian manga to be remotely sex-positive, but I did find it a little disturbing that a teen who watches porn considers himself a "freak" and traces this back to being sexually molested by a babysitter when he was eleven. I find this rhetoric especially problematic because homophobes frequently cite sexual abuse as the cause of gayness. That isn't to say I found this character's story untrue, but because this is a narrative where so many things are left for the reader to interpret...

It should have been made explicit that Eddie was assaulted. Period. He was wronged. And rather than treating him with compassion, Serenity totally dismisses Eddie's situation as typical masculinity.

(It's funny, because I was looking at reviews on Amazon, and somebody is concerned about the mentions/portrayals of virgins, condoms, and porn, but absolutely no mention of sexual assault as a concern. Ha.)

I also find this interesting because while the Esther retelling in the second half of the book is beautiful, the fact that Xerxes forces women to please him every night is also a sexual assault issue, and yet they breeze right over that. At any rate, it's left up for interpretation, so it kind of depends.

As it stands, though, the poor treatment of Eddie as a sexual assault survivor receives a one-star review from moi.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully written and drawn. my favorite of the Serenity books.

great for a church library!

terrific retelling of Esther.