| |
|
Thanks for the fair thread move, Our Lady.
(And as to the tip, Jack: I'm looking at those threads, and they are all quite specific. There doesn't appear to be a general Promethea thread - you know, one where we can discuss the series in total, its place in the world of comics as well as magick (and comics about magic), which is I think the intent of this thread.)
One thing that stands out in Promethea, when compared to the two other "big" magick-oriented titles (Dr. Strange and The Invisibles) is that Promethea does very little magick as we know it. She casts few spells, calls upon no powers, doesn't even whip out a sigil. She goes to Jack Faust for "magical instruction" but gets little more than a few bits of advice, some basic introductory lessons (although more may have occurred off-panel).
Promethea's power seems situated in either her status as a demi-goddess or her caduceus (the demons seem more afraid of the staff than the being - the staff is a symbol of great power). Her magick appears to be a force that results from her will - she simply thinks of a "magical act" and it happens. The post-Crowley understanding of magick is that it is an act of will and not the result of magical formulae.
The most obvious spell-work in Promethea is the incantation (which varies) used by Sophie to become Promethea - or transform others into Promethea. These "spells" take the form of poems, which are at first very awkward but later gain more eloquence. This suggests to me the proposition put forth by Robert Graves and many others - that our arts began as magic. Incantations become poems. Paintings on cave walls eventually transfer to other mediums (and hang on museum walls).
In The Invisibles, Grant Morrison actually demonstrates a few magical techniques - Mad Tom's lessons are very good, and various sigils and spells are concocted for us. (Grant even provides a sigil lesson in one editorial.) Doctor Strange of course calls upon various powers for his magic - while his methods are clearly based on traditional ceremonial magic, the powers invoked and spells spoke are invented for the comic (and sometimes as silly as something you might find in Simon's Neconomicon. Though Promethea is clearly informed by Moore's acquaintance with and practices in "high magick," there's not much in the way of recipes for the curious.
However, as I said above, the series contains one of the best introductions to the Major Arcana ever written (issue #12). Several issues (nos. 14-23) are utilized for lectures on the various spheres of the kabala, with a little planetary magick added for flavor. Without sacrificing the pace of his adventure (many would no doubt argue with me on this point), Moore provides good lessons on two of the more popular and esoteric "schools" of magick. (Aside: would it be proper to refer to Tarot and Kabala as "schools?")
I wasn't reading The Invisibles or Promethea while they were being published. Instead I got to experience them as whole works, rather than waiting for each issue. (The waiting was the hardest part w/r/t Promethea, I'm told.) Each time I return to them, I am impressed with the breadth of each writer's imagination and knowledge. These are the titles (along with Transmetropolitan) which restored my love for the form & my respect for its potential, and engendered my belief that sequential art is perhaps the ultimate medium for storytellers. Many presume cinema to be the pinnacle of narrative expression - and perhaps someday, as the tools of cinema are more and more democratized, it will reach its place as the ultimate mode of narrative expression. But for now, of the two mediums, only in comics is the storyteller's imagination unrestrained by budgets or the limits of technology. |
|
|
)