''Second Coming'' is a

religious satire Religious satire is a form of satire that refers to religious beliefs and can take the form of texts, plays, films, and parody. From the earliest times, at least since the plays of Aristophanes, religion has been one of the three primary topics ...

comic book series written and illustrated by

Mark Russell Mark Russell (born August 23, 1932) is an American political satirist and comedian. He is best known for his series of semimonthly comedy specials on PBS television between 1975 and 2004. His routines were a mix of political stand-up humor cover ...

and Richard Pace. The series was originally going to be published by Vertigo Comics, an imprint of DC Comics, but after criticism from conservative and Christian news outlets as well as a petition the series was canceled and the rights were returned to Russell. The series was later published in March 2020 by Ahoy Comics and was followed by two sequels titled ''Second Coming: Only Begotten Son'' and ''Second Coming: Trinity''.

Background

The series is written by

, visuals by Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk, colors by Andy Troy, and covers by Amanda Conner and Richard Pace. The comic book series was first announced in July 2018 at the

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

, but in January news outlets such as the '' Christian Broadcasting Network'', ''Christian Headlines'', and ''

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

'' began criticizing the series. The series was originally going to be published on March 6, 2019, however, on February 13 Russell and Pace announced that the series had been canceled.

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

was going to include it in their relaunch of their imprint

Vertigo Comics Vertigo Comics, also known as DC Vertigo or simply Vertigo, was an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics started by editor Karen Berger in 1993. Vertigo's purpose was to publish comics with adult content, such as nudity, drug use, ...

, but after the online petition criticizing the series DC Comics decided to cancel it. DC Comics had requested that profanity and nudity be removed from the series leading up to its cancellation, but Russell and Pace weren't comfortable with the requested changes. DC Comics decided to cancel issue #88 of ''Swamp Thing'' in 1989 for similar reasons''.'' After the series was cancelled Russell asked DC Comics to have the rights to the story and they gave it to him. The comic book was later picked up by Ahoy Comics in July 2019 and the first issue was published in March 2020. Russell has previously published books that were similarly focused on Christianity such as ''God is Disappointed in You'' and ''Apocrypha Now''. Russell and Pace both cited ''

Monty Python's Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It wa ...

'' as their favorite example of

. The series was originally intended to be composed of six issues, but Russell planned to write as many as 18. Russell intends to portray Jesus in a subversive manner in the series. The second series was titled ''Second Coming: Only Begotten Son''. The second series was written by Mark Russell, drawn by Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk, colored by Richard Pace and Andy Troy, lettered by Rob Steen, and cover art by Richard Pace. The third series was titled ''Second Coming: Trinity''. The third series was written by Mark Russell, art by Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk, and cover art by Richard Pace and Tom Fowler.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://comicsahoy.com/series/second-coming 2020 comics debuts Religious comics American comics