This is obviously not something everyone will enjoy, but I thought it was fun. It's an interesting take on God and His relationships with His creation and with His son- hint: it's complicated. God feels like Jesus is a little soft, and asks Earth's strongest superhero, Sunstar, to let Jesus stay with him for a while, and toughen him up a bit. This does not go as planned. There's some funny stuff, some philosophical stuff, some good and evil going on, about what you'd expect. I found some of the thoughts on religion and such interesting, some I didn't agree with, but overall, pretty good stuff. The art was great, lots of detail, nice coloring. It's good enough that I'll read the next volume if I come across it, but not so compelling that I'll seek it out. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

#SecondComingVolumeOne #NetGalley

A graphic novel in which God sends Jesus to live with Earth's greatest superhero in order to toughen him up. I can see why it stirred up controversy as it shows Jesus being thoroughly disgusted with those who claim to follow him, but it's overall message is one of compassion and mercy. It's not great literature, but it's well worth reading.

Received via NetGalley.

Just by seeing the cover alone, I knew I had to read this book. In short, it’s brilliant. Who knew that the world needed a version of The Odd Couple with Jesus and a superhero? Riotously funny, surprisingly touching, and reverently irreverent, I truly loved Second Coming. I can not wait for Volume Two!

I liked the concept of Jesus coming back to hang out with a super hero, not too unlike Superman. And some of the humor of God with a potty mouth was funny, but it got boring after a bit. There are only so many fight scenes, and extra stuff that I can handle.

So, good story idea. OK execution. I probably will not read the next colleciton.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Okay, I can see by page 10 why this comic upset so many people—even non-Christians. The god in this comic (indicated by a lowercase g) is a dick. As are most of the humans within Second Coming: Volume One. The book’s god calls all humans “jerks” and much worse. He swears like a sailor too. The author is definitely not portraying the God from your Sunday school class here. Not even the more vengeful Old Testament one.

However, jesus is presented more like you remember. He is just trying to help people. Superman-lookalike Sunstar tries to explain why some people are evil and deserve punishment. jesus is portrayed as a little slow mentally so there goes another 20% of this book’s readers. Meanwhile, jesus is appalled that he is represented by the cross that killed him. To be honest, that has the ring of truth to me.

Second Coming: Volume One has beautiful artwork. But a story that conflicts with the beliefs of 77% of Americans is probably not going to be a big seller. The reason other writers like Christopher Moore and Monty Python get away with their rewriting of Biblical stories is that their versions are clearly parodies. And, let’s face it, much funnier than anything in this “comic”.

Overall, though the art is great and the story very creative, the book can’t get beyond its controversial theme. 3 disappointed stars.

Thanks to Ahoy Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I like it and think that this is hilarious, but I can think of more than few library patrons that would get their dander up over a title like this. A more niche audience than I normally purchase for.

What if Jesus came back and shared a flat with a superhero. God is fed up with humanity. Jesus begged for a chance to help and that trip ended with his crucifixion. God was hesitant to let Jesus try again, but when he saw Sunstar the hero he decides that Sunstar could teach Jesus how to be a real god. He reaches out and asks Sunstar to take Jesus under his wing and show him the ropes.

This is issues 1-6 of the series and I loved every minute of it. It is hilarious. Jesus finds himself in all kinds of situations, but unlike other books I've read Jesus remains true to himself. I never felt like the creators were making a mockery of religion. There is questioning and silly situations, but it was a fun read with great art.

Creative Team
Published by Ahoy Comics
Writer Mark Russell
Artist Richard Pace
Colors Andy Troy

This should have been better, in my mind. It's a great set-up – the Son of God turning up to flat-share with a Superman-equivalent, because God thinks the go-getting looking after of us humans is much better and more effective than the turning-the-other-cheek Jesus used to pretend would see us right. But once we get through the ribaldry and what might seem edgy, we see it actually be too thoughtful, too carefully measured, and too unentertaining ultimately. Some relief is to be had now and again with Satan stirring things, but I don't think the whole thing was beginning from a winning position anyway. A story with God, his Son, Superman and Satan all in the same place needs a lot of chutzpah to give all of them enough agency, and here God doesn't get that, coming across as too close to an arsey redneck than anything else. The way this Jesus goes about his ministry also appears too lily-livered and woolly to have the intended impact, too, whether for character or reader. Worth a look, but I don't think this is a keeper. Two and a half stars, perhaps.

Funny, Pointed and Thoughtful

Back in the 1970's,when the album and then musical "Jesus Chris Superstar" was getting everyone into a twist, the evangelist Billy Graham weighed in by observing that it "bordered on blasphemy and sacrilege", but also conceded that "if the production ... causes young people to search their Bibles, to that extent it may be beneficial.". Well, I'm not in a twist, I don't worry about blasphemy or sacrilege, and reading the Bible through once was enough for me, but by gosh this book, like "Superstar", is funny, insightful, graceful, edgy, remarkably kind, and wistfully forgiving.

While there's a lot of witty snappy banter and some great deadpan bits and throwaway lines, the heart of this book is earnest and surprisingly good humored. This isn't the scorched earth approach of people like Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, both of whom I admire when they back off from their most strident. This is a kinder, gentler, and more bemused version by an author who seems most interested in where it was, exactly, that we all went wrong.

There's lots to enjoy here, if you just want to speed along. There's also a lot to think about, if you want to pause and consider the points being made by the author. It's not terribly groundbreaking, but questions about human nature, forgiveness, cooperation, and kindness are always worth putting on the table. And as an added filip, it was inspired to balance a superhero, whose only response to a situation is violence, against Jesus, whose primary response to a situation is to urge peace and forgiveness. Think about that for a while.

I enjoyed this as a work of art, (the drawing completely complements and fully supports the tale), and as a meditation on classic religious themes. It is a clever critique of the current state of organized religion, and a knowing commentary about current culture. It's also often laugh out loud funny.

This is worth reading.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

I loved the premise behind this--the world's greatest superhero gets Jesus for a roommate. I read the author's introduction about the struggle to get his comic book published and sympathized, especially as he described the story he wanted to tell.

I'm pretty easy going about tongue-in-cheek looks at Christianity (note: I am a Christian). However, this book seemed to spend half of its time trying to offend all Christians (spoilers: God's a jerk), so the actual interesting ideas that kept popping up were minimized in impact, in my view.

The superhero, Sunstar, is a ripoff Superman--nothing original there, other than that he and his girlfriend (and then wife--lots happens in this volume 1) are unable to have children because he is immortal.

It got better as it went on, but the interplay of the 2 main characters was really quite minimal (especially based on the way the book is being promoted) and their stories didn't mesh well--although the ending was fun. I could do without all of the swearing. The many sexual illustrations make this suitable for adults, not teens or children.

I had hopes for it, but was really disappointed.

"Second Coming : Volume One" is cute for what it is. But I was not moved by the story or the artwork,