Miniature Jesus
Created, written, illustrated and lettered by Ted McKeever
Image Comics
Ted McKeever's comics have always been idiosyncratic. His visual style favors distorted, expressionistic character designs (often in B&W), and the stories are dark and surreal. Miniature Jesus is immediately recognizable as McKeever's work, but it has the most straightforward narrative of any of his many stories I have read, and the most conventional drawing style. Reading between the lines, it may also be the most personal and autobiographical of his stories. The protagonist appears to be modeled on McKeever himself, and the book is dedicated "In loving memory of my Dad. Forever in my heart."
The story opens on a man in a hoodie sitting in an abandoned motel. He ponders his "twenty-six days of self-imposed incarceration," then the carcass of a dead cat begins talking to him: the first sign that the story won't be completely naturalistic. Chomsky (that's his name) is a recovering alcoholic, and the cat is only the first of the demons he will confront. When another demon appears at his shoulder, it takes the traditional devil role. It looks like him, and is there to tempt him to start drinking again. Chomsky wonders where the angel is to represent his good side, and the question is answered by the miniature Jesus of the title.
The scene shifts to a country church where a priest is sermonizing to an empty sanctuary (except for one young boy who likes to watch). God's response is not what he expected: first Jesus descends from the crucifix on the wall, then the hand of God pushes through the church roof, collapsing it on both of them. Chomsky had just been ruminating on faith, so this surreal action--which is presented as a real event, not a hallucination--serves as an answer to both him and the priest.
Much of the rest of the story involves Chomsky's struggle with these two forces. The evil demon takes a female drug addict, to show Chomsky the futility of his struggle for sobriety. Chomsky glues the miniature Jesus's arm back on, then reject's God's offer to take away his pain as a reward. The pain is part of the continual struggle for sobriety.
Ultimately this is a story about the difficulty of staying sober. McKeever also questions the role of religion in contemporary society. Perhaps it's a commentary on the religious aspect of twelve-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous? At any rate, it's a powerful story about individual moral struggle. I should mention that the collection is a bit oversized (7.3 x 10 inches), which gives the art more impact.
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