This Friday Recommendation has been a long, LONG time coming as it has taken me tragically long to acquire and absorb the fourteen issues of madness that is Battle Pope. Conceived by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore long before The Walking Dead was even a glimmer in their collective mind’s eye, the book was originally published independently in black and white on Kirkman and Moore’s own Funk-O-Tron imprint in 2000 and was picked up and re-printed in color by Image in 2005. Since then, the book has become a legend and ranks just as highly as everything that has come from Kirkman since and is, quite honestly, one of the best uses of religious content within the realms of graphic fiction.
The story begins, as one may expect, with Pope Oswald Leopold II down on his luck and drinking his sorrows away in a local bar. You see, following The Rapture, the gates of hell were thrown open and the remnants of humanity were forced to coexist with the endless demon hordes down on Earth…which, as it happens, was not that difficult. That said, with God officially having abandoned humanity, this cigar chomping, heavy drinking, overweight, sex addicted Pope was pretty much out of work…that is until God gives him a serious power boost in order to combat the evil machinations of Lucifer and his devious Hellcorp. Of course, God also gives Pope a very special sidekick, immeasurably close to God’s own heart: the bumbling, cartoon and video game loving man-child Jesus Christ.
And this, really, is all you need to know about Battle Pope…and you’re given it in the first issue. What you get from the following 13 is some of the funniest, most violent, outlandish, sexualized and generally sacrilegious comic book fare I’ve ever read. Included in the serialized goodness are: horny zombies, demons with motorcycles for legs, horny demons, Pope destroying hell, Pope having more sex than is possibly healthy with women of multiple ages and species, the final showdown between Santa Claus vs. Jesus, Pope having sex with the Virgin Mary and earning the wrath of God and finally, the long awaited wedding of God and Mary and the subsequent unbastardization of Jesus.
In short: this book is not for the religiously conservative.
That said, while on the surface this book may just seem like Kirkman doing everything in his power to offend the religious right in this country, if you look a little deeper you’ll find a very profound social commentary on both modern and ancient christianity that ends up being just slightly more legitimate than, I suspect, even Kirkman anticipated. In taking away all of the social construction and societal expectations and yet still making the Pope and Jesus the ultimate heroes of the tale, it says a LOT about the origins of organized religion and how those origins are bent and molded depending on who needs to use them as justification for *insert unjustifiable action.*
Ultimately, this book can adhere to several sets of expectations. If you’re looking for an extremely violent, vulgar and universally fun action/adventure romp, you are definitely going to find it here. If you’re looking for largely intelligent (but still irreverent) bit of social commentary, you’ll find that here as well. And if you’re a fan of both trains of thought, then this book is absolutely a must buy.
