Testament (comics)

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Testament


Cover to Testament #1.
Publisher Vertigo Comics
Schedule Monthly
Format ongoing
Publication dates December 2005 – present)
Creative team
Writer(s) Douglas Rushkoff
Artist(s) Liam Sharp, Peter Gross
Colourist(s) Jamie Grant
Creator(s) Douglas Rushkoff & Liam Sharp

Testament is a comic book written by Douglas Rushkoff with art and cover by Liam Sharp, first published in December 2005. It tells two stories, drawing comparison between a near future in which grad student Jake Stern and his conscientious objector friends fight a new RFID-based universal draft by attempting to access the collective unconscious through an experimental shared experience sensory deprivation tank and a Biblical narrative based on Torah, various Jewish and Christian apocrypha and elements of other wolrd mythologies.

Contents

[edit] About the Series

[edit] Story Arcs

  • Abraham of Ur: Issues #1-5
  • West of Eden: Issues #6-7
  • Down to Egypt: Issues #8-10
  • Shit Happens: The Book of Job: Issue #11
  • Trip Reset: The Rape of Dinah: Issue #12
  • Babel: Issues #13-16

[edit] Characters

There are two stories being told, one in the biblical historical past, the other in the near future.

Biblical characters:

  • Abraham, patriarch of the Israelite religion
  • Isaac, Abraham's son, whom he is called on to sacrifice
  • Sarah, Abraham's wife
  • Moloch, Phoenician god of the sacrifice of young children, here a deity representing the malevolent aspects of the Abrahamic God
  • Astarte, Semitic goddess of fertility, sexuality, and war
  • Melchizedek Biblical character who appeared to Abraham, here a deity representing the merciful Abrahamic God

Near future characters:

  • Jake Stern, graduate student caught in the middle of the conflict over a near future National RFID Trace system
  • Alan Stern, Jake's father, a researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Center For Functional Nanomaterials)
  • Amos, leader of Jake's rebel friends at the Temple
  • Greco, who makes propaganda for the Temple
  • Dinah, Jake's underage friend who makes potions for the Temple
  • other unnamed Temple resident who acts as doorman and wears a "Juan Kerr" shirt
  • Miriam, Jake's ex-girlfriend and fellow grad student, dedicated to changing the system using above the board methods
  • Alan's colleague Dr. Green, who helped develop the RFID system, originally intended to trace soldiers in the field

[edit] Plot summaries

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Collected Editions

# Title ISBN Release date Collected material
1 Testament: Akedah ISBN 1-4012-10632 July 26, 2006 Testament #1–5.
2 Testament: West of Eden ISBN 1-4012-12018 January 17, 2007 Testament #6-12

[edit] See also

Biblical: Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, Moloch, Astarte, Melchizedek, Mount Moriah, the people of Sodom, Ur, Akedah, Anakim

Near Future: RFID recall system, Transparency Act, Brookhaven National Laboratory Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Douglas Rushkoff, totem, taboo, cultural icons, reality filter, archetypes, Jung, collective unconscious, genetic trace, psy-ops, R.F.I.D. Trace, Genesis P-Orridge, Grant Morrison / J. Devlin / Liam Sharp / J. Grant, sacrifice, code, logarithmic inversion, heed the call, increase capacity resistance, the temple, networks, propaganda, potion, resonant, virtual reality game, ayahuasca, external stimuli, sensory deprivation tank, mikvah, prophecy, uplinking, Juan Kerr

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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