Q&A with Sean Murphy, author of "Punk Rock Jesus"
Q. Punk Rock Jesus has been a critical and commercial smash-hit. Were you surprised at all with how deeply the comic book audience has fallen in love with it?
A. I'm completely surprised. My hope was that it would eventually become a cult hit--much like The Crow was in the 90s. But people seemed to embrace it very quickly. Which is surprising, because it's not your typical type of comic.
Q. This series was your first foray into writing for Vertigo. Did you find it easier or more difficult working by yourself?
A. Yes, it was a lot more demanding doing both the writing and drawing. And I knew if something didn't work, I'd only have myself to blame. I forced myself to put in extra hours to make sure it was up to snuff.
Q. For obvious reasons, Punk Rock Jesus struck a controversial tone with many people. Did you ever feel the heat of the critics? How did you react?
A. Yes, I've had a few run-ins with people at conventions who weren't happy with my subject matter. I've also received emails from people telling me that being an atheist is wrong, and that if I'd only read the Bible (again) I'd see that Jesus has bigger plans for me, etc. But those incidents are rare most people who write love the book. And many of them are Christian as well. I'm lucky to have open minded readers, even if we don't all agree on the idea of an afterlife.
Q. Do you identify yourself as a religious person? Did it affect the manner in which you wrote Punk Rock Jesus?
No, I'm an atheist. But I didn't want the book to read that way. The trick was to write something that pushed believers to question their religion, but not in a way that abandoned them.
Q. The book is filled with such deep, well-thought characterization for it s two main protagonists, Chris, the clone of Jesus, and Thomas, his bodyguard, that they feel like real people. Where did you draw inspiration for these characters?
A. PRJ is actually an autobiography in disguise, because most of the characters are based off different aspects of my personality, or different roles I've inhabited over the years. For example, Thomas is a lot like me when I was Catholic very black and white in how I viewed the world. And Chris is a lot like me when I first lost my faith angry and militant about my new found atheism. Luckily, I've cooled off a lot since then, otherwise PRJ would have been a very (atheistically) preachy book.
Q. Reality television takes center stage in the series. Is the J2 show that capture s Chris s every movement representative of your feelings on reality TV? Or was it just a plot device?
A. I think it's both. It's no secret to anyone how cheap, mindless and disposable reality TV is these days, nor is it hard for any one of us to imagine how much worse it will get in the future. Even people who love reality TV usually admit that it's pretty vapid.
Q. Punk rock takes strong role in the latter half of the series. Why did you choose the genre to have such a prominent role in Punk Rock Jesus? Did you grow up a punk rock fan? If so, who were your favorite bands?
A. I don't think the book would work so well if the Jesus clone became an atheist, escaped the island, then started a Bluegrass band. It has to be punk rock because punk is diametrically opposed to the tenets of social conformity. And I imagine that it's the worst nightmare of Fundamentalist Christians--at least it is for the Fundamentalists in my book.