Anybody else see this on BBC London news earlier?
It seems the Met has banned/refused to publish a comic book produced and distributed by the Christian Police Association, due to the fact that other minorities were being ignored.
It's an interestingly double edged sword. On the one hand, it has a strong (and presumably heartfelt) anti-crime message, coupled with many Christian messages, with captions like (paraphrasing closely) "the power of Christ helped me stop being a criminal". It's based on true stories too, with ex-criminals writing the stories of their conversion from thug to evangelist. The art didn't look too bad either, there was one black and white piece that reminded me of early Matt Wagner, and another in the same style as people like Philip Bond.
On the other hand it does smell of propaganda, even though it probably means well. The police, being a public service, obviously don't wish to be too strongly allied to one religion, especially when they seem to be alienating pretty much every other ethnic minority going (at least, if you believe what you hear on the news).
Also, could a preachy christian comic book even do that much to stop crime? Apparently, the plan was to give the books out to kids that get arrested, so they can read them in the cells. Would this even work?
Would the books perhaps be more acceptable if they were multi-faith (and evenly balanced, so no one side can accuse the other of playing favourites), or is this just a silly idea, no matter who's involved? I mean, with the exception of the geek-core (like us, yay!) who even reads comics? Every time I mention my collection to 'normal' people, I often get asked "What, you read comics??" (and I bet you get similar reactions too). From what I can tell, your average person doesn't even know modern comics exist, especially in the UK, let alone take them seriously enough to take on board the (somewhat unsubtle, in this case) message inside.
What are your thoughts, Barbelith? Is a comic-book the place for christian anti-crime propaganda? Why not?
From the programme: "meanwhile, London's christian police officers, of which there are over a thousand, are praying for the comic's release."
Heh, good luck! |
