The comics, “Testament” and “Manga Bible” each take on the
task of depicting the “Creation” story, each adding its own unique flair to the
commonly retold story. Both stories are
told through a narrative in which the speaker or speakers greatly influence the
story being told altering it from the original book of Genesis.
In the
comic, “Testament,” the story begins with different “Gods” from different
religions and mythology, each laying claim to the creation of the world. These gods are amidst a power struggle in
which the god who is worshipped the most, has the greatest amount of
power. In order to solve this struggle,
the Gods decide to develop a new creation story in which everyone will worship
the “one true God,” and this newly created story emphasized the use of language
as creation as opposed to nature. The
significance of the use of language is that it differs from traditional
paganism in which the world is “created” through nature. By using language as a means of creation, it
makes humans more centric to the universe because meaning that the universe was
developed for human use as opposed to humans interconnected with nature.
The use of
language is also prevalent in the “Manga Bible.” The story of Genesis is told to a group of
children by Moses in a precursor to the parting of the Red Sea. In the story, Moses emphasized the word “Good”
to imply that God did not create evil.
This is an expansion done by the comic that maybe was to imply that
humans are responsible for evil.
Both comics use the narrators of the story to take the same story, but alter it from its original meaning. While taking drastically different stances on creationism, both comics were able to take the same exact story and provide commentary on completely separate issues.
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