“NOW YOU ARE AWARE OF ME.” The first service of religion is to show to man, “isolated in the universe and unable to compare himself to anything,” “how much he cost.” The sacrifice of the god himself demonstrates “the enormity of the crime that demanded such an expiation; the inconceivable grandeur of the being that could have committed it; the infinite price of the victim who said here I am.” The inconceivable grandeur of man that required to redeem it... Read more

SAVING THEMSELVES FOR YALE: My review of Donna Freitas’s intriguing–yet frustrating–Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses is in the current Weekly Standard. Subscribers can read it online here. Read more

GHOSTS DO NOTHING NEW: Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2. Well, this was a polarizing comic. My vague impression is that the two Ghost Boxes issues were marketed as “steampunk” X-Men. And… I pretty much desperately don’t care about steampunk as a thing. I know people like both corsets and contemporary philosophical assumptions, but that doesn’t impress me, as a combination. So I was okay with the fact that Ghost Boxes #2 isn’t that, at all. It’s a pricey (just about... Read more

“Well, that’s the problem with living in the clouds, Commander… “You can’t see the big picture from this far down.”–“Agent Brand,” Astonishing X-Men: Torn Read more

AND A BAND CALLED “AMERICA” SINGS A SONG ABOUT THE DESERT, AND A HORSE WITH NO NAME: Inside Catholic did a symposium about how Catholics can move forward from what has been–let’s be honest–a devastating eight years. I’m on page three, I think. I guess my entry is kind of, “Oh hey, powerlessness! Double down!” So take it for what you paid for it. Read more

I’LL BREAK YOUR FACE. If I have readers who wonder why there are comics, or what comics might possibly add to other narrative forms like movies and paintings and symphonies and novels… I think this video might help. Imagine if you could have the broken-faced panels and the action, while still controlling how fast you flipped the pages…. Imagine if you had God’s camera, and you were drunk–or in ecstasy, or caught in memory. Comics exist because we want action... Read more

CAT’LICK GIFT IDEAS. Read more

Your ecstasy is your apostolate, For whom to kick is contemplata tradere. –an only intermittently awesome poem; but when it’s good, it’s very very good Read more

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ADVENT CALENDAR. Ultimately via Thinking Reed. Read more

COMFORT COMFORTABLE PEOPLE. Read more