Remember the article I posted a few days ago, borrowed from Dirk’s Journalista entry, about the Catholic Church using manga-style comics art to recruit younger folks to an ecclesiatstical calling? Read the hip manga, see The Light, become a priest or nun. Well, Garen Ewing, creator of the excellent Rainbow Orchid, dropped me a line after that, commenting that the art style looked familiar. In fact Garen thought it bore a strong resemblance to the work of one Mr Neill Cameron, an ittinerant artist-about-town better known for corrupting impressionable young comics readers with Absolute Dumbass and Bulldog Empire than for being on a mission for God. On closer inspection I thought Garen was onto something and so a few emails to Neill later and verily we had The Truth: it was indeed a commission undertaken by Neill because “it was one of those commissions that was just way too wonderfully mental to turn down!“. Well spotted, Garen.
(a spread for Neill’s Thumpculture webcomic, which can be read online free here – warning, Parental Advisory, highly unlikely to encourage anyone into a nunnery)
Being familiar with some of Neill’s other work – which has a somewhat different quality to it – I had to enquire if, in addition to providing work, there was perhaps an element of redemption to undetaking this church commission, an attempt to gain a Papal indulgence for his comics-corrupted soul?
“The way I see it, if this campaign inspires even one person to become a monk and / or nun, that’s one soul saved, and then maybe God will finally forgive me for that scene I did with the panda and the mother superior in Dumbass Comics #3. Or at least give me a couple of years off my Eternity in Hell…”
Rumours that Neill may next be asked to render his own, unique interpretation of the Sistine Chapel works on the ceiling of his local church have so far, sadly, proved unfounded. Truly the Lord does indeed move in mysterious ways…
Thu, Apr 26, 2007
Comics and cartoons