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Paradox Press series of Big Books
The Big Book of Martyrs
191 English Dc Comics They came from the four corners of the earth. from every era of history and from all walks of life Prophets and philosophers. pirates and kings. warriors and pacifists. they had nothing in common except. their faith -. and a willingness to die They are the Christian Martyrs and these are their stories Contains over 50 tales of peril and perseverance and as exciting as anything contemporary fiction has to offer Each biography is told in comic form by some of the.! worlds finest comic book writers and artists. Illustrated throughout.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
John Wagner
1,308 books191 followersJohn Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 22, 2024
No mention of the Protestant Martyrs, Bloody Mary or the Spanish Inquisition.
August 28, 2008
What I learned from this book: most martyrs/saints were total freak-a-zoids. I mean really nutty.
But, I suppose if you where a Catholic teen or adult, this might be interesting. What exactly does a Catholic do on a saint's feast day? How can one person be the patron saint of Ceylon, cooks, librarians and the poor, while you can invoke his name against fire and lumbago? Long live St. Lawrence.
Now I have all these horrendous visions stuck in my skull of what happened to all of those martyrs and saints. How will I ever sleep tonight?
But, I suppose if you where a Catholic teen or adult, this might be interesting. What exactly does a Catholic do on a saint's feast day? How can one person be the patron saint of Ceylon, cooks, librarians and the poor, while you can invoke his name against fire and lumbago? Long live St. Lawrence.
Now I have all these horrendous visions stuck in my skull of what happened to all of those martyrs and saints. How will I ever sleep tonight?
May 1, 2017
*speechless*
September 27, 2011
Catholic faith has history and sometimes it is very bloody. People with faith were sacrificing all to their believes. Remarkable stories of courage and strong will of the most interesting martyrs in catholic panthenon. The way how the stories were told is good for using it for sunday schools.
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July 29, 2011"Big Book of..." is great illustrated series on a wide variety of topics with lots of top-notch artists and authors.
June 4, 2016
Another excellent collection concerning martyrs of all kinds.
June 18, 2020
It took rather a long time to figure out exactly how to describe why I so disliked The Big Book of Martyrs, but I think it was this: Given the often oppressive nature of dogmatic Christianity over the centuries, writer John Wagner doesn't sufficiently engage with the more problematic aspects of dogmatic articles of faith for me to have felt entirely comfortable with his treatment. (Yes, I know it's not about me—as a Jewish person, particularly one who's never felt a great deal of direct antisemitism—but the Paradox Press Factoid Books were intended for a general audience, so I think this criticism is valid.)
Among those more problematic aspects is how thoroughly the various narratives Other non-Christians, particularly non-white Christians; nowhere is this more evident in the final chapter, where Wagner successively Others Native Americans, Japanese folks, Vietnamese folks, and African folks as cruel, bigoted, and immoral and deviant heathens, all while conveniently ignoring that for the most part, all four populations were there for millennia before white Christians ever set foot in those areas, much less attempted to proselytize or, worse, colonize those regions. Even more so, the Othering of Jewish people is especially evident, perhaps not unsurprisingly given centuries of official sanction by multiple sects of Christianity (and as Jonathan Vankin makes absolutely clear in his section on the Spanish Inquisition in the very next volume, The Big Book of Bad); the entire first chapter of The Big Book of Martyrs is littered with demonizations of Jewish people during the early period of the Church, never mind the limited political power of the Jewish establishment during almost all of the first couple centuries of the Common Era, and never mind that the Jews of Jesus' era practiced extremely differently from modern Rabbinic Judaism—which in turn has faced repeated periodic persecution in its modern form because of the effectively different religion of two thousand years ago. Nowhere is this more evident from the books treatment of Little St. Hugh of Lincoln and St. William of Norwich, whose deaths collectively gave rise to the antisemitic blood libel: Yes, Wagner explicitly calls out the baseless antisemitism of Hugh and William's cults, but even as Wagner specifically notes that the Catholic Church has stricken the feasts of, say, St. Ursula and St. Catherine (she of the Wheel), from the liturgical calendar, he still lists feast days for St. Hugh of Lincoln and St. William of Norwich , never mind that the Church has also stricken those feasts from the liturgy, and at that precisely because they gave rise to the slaughter of thousands of Jews over the centuries. The fact is, Wagner can't have things both ways in this circumstance, precisely because even saints and martyrs supposedly benign to Jewish people, such as St. Valentine (he of the February 14th holiday), aren't actually particularly benign.
And therein lies the sum problem of The Big Book of Martyrs in general, and John Wagner's treatment of the subject matter in particular. Wagner's deftest touch is reserved for deeply satiric works such as Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files, but while there's occasionally a light touch here, that's hardly the same as satire; Wagner largely plays the subject matter straight, when an honest assessment in light of the millions killed in the name of Jesus Christ (as in any religion, really) requires significantly more critical engagement with the subject matter. That Wagner doesn't do so is a grave disservice to the reader, and one that is unnecessarily and seriously discomfiting.
Among those more problematic aspects is how thoroughly the various narratives Other non-Christians, particularly non-white Christians; nowhere is this more evident in the final chapter, where Wagner successively Others Native Americans, Japanese folks, Vietnamese folks, and African folks as cruel, bigoted, and immoral and deviant heathens, all while conveniently ignoring that for the most part, all four populations were there for millennia before white Christians ever set foot in those areas, much less attempted to proselytize or, worse, colonize those regions. Even more so, the Othering of Jewish people is especially evident, perhaps not unsurprisingly given centuries of official sanction by multiple sects of Christianity (and as Jonathan Vankin makes absolutely clear in his section on the Spanish Inquisition in the very next volume, The Big Book of Bad); the entire first chapter of The Big Book of Martyrs is littered with demonizations of Jewish people during the early period of the Church, never mind the limited political power of the Jewish establishment during almost all of the first couple centuries of the Common Era, and never mind that the Jews of Jesus' era practiced extremely differently from modern Rabbinic Judaism—which in turn has faced repeated periodic persecution in its modern form because of the effectively different religion of two thousand years ago. Nowhere is this more evident from the books treatment of Little St. Hugh of Lincoln and St. William of Norwich, whose deaths collectively gave rise to the antisemitic blood libel: Yes, Wagner explicitly calls out the baseless antisemitism of Hugh and William's cults, but even as Wagner specifically notes that the Catholic Church has stricken the feasts of, say, St. Ursula and St. Catherine (she of the Wheel), from the liturgical calendar, he still lists feast days for St. Hugh of Lincoln and St. William of Norwich , never mind that the Church has also stricken those feasts from the liturgy, and at that precisely because they gave rise to the slaughter of thousands of Jews over the centuries. The fact is, Wagner can't have things both ways in this circumstance, precisely because even saints and martyrs supposedly benign to Jewish people, such as St. Valentine (he of the February 14th holiday), aren't actually particularly benign.
And therein lies the sum problem of The Big Book of Martyrs in general, and John Wagner's treatment of the subject matter in particular. Wagner's deftest touch is reserved for deeply satiric works such as Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files, but while there's occasionally a light touch here, that's hardly the same as satire; Wagner largely plays the subject matter straight, when an honest assessment in light of the millions killed in the name of Jesus Christ (as in any religion, really) requires significantly more critical engagement with the subject matter. That Wagner doesn't do so is a grave disservice to the reader, and one that is unnecessarily and seriously discomfiting.
October 21, 2019
Unfortunately this was my least favorite of The Big Book series so far, mainly because it felt very repetitious and most of the things discussed were the horrible tortures and deaths of people trying to do good. It was still interesting and had its moments, such as seeing what what saints represent and what they are called upon to combat. (Lumbago, foot pain, etc. as well as wolves, etc.) Overall interesting but not as entertaining as the other volumes I've read.
August 24, 2019
The big COMIC book of martyrs. The most famous stories of Christian martyrs are set in comic book form by several artists. There was definitely a diversity of worldviews: some of the stories were clearly drawn by people with deep distrust of Catholic claims. It would be great to see a book like this created by faithful Catholic artists; how would such a book look like?
September 10, 2019
God I loved this books series. I wish I still had a copy of this; it was absolutely fantastic and accessible.
May 23, 2012
Interesting comic-book style stories of Christian martyrs throughout history. Longer review here:
http://eyesandearsblog.blogspot.com/2...
http://eyesandearsblog.blogspot.com/2...
August 8, 2012
After seeing this book at some friends’ cabin, I was delighted to find a copy at Powell’s Book. Strange tales told in graphic novel format.
June 24, 2014
Interesting. I especially liked the section of "mythic" martyrs.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews