Religion In The Comics - 017

[Cartoonist]

And now for four pages of fun. This originally appeared in Picture News #2 in 1946. This is the same publisher that brought you the George Bernard Shaw treatise I featured last week.

[mr blur]

1. Well, that was...bizarre,

but strangely satisfying.

"Drop that snake or I'll have to kill the both of you!" Virginia policing at its best.

"Go back to your bible for real TRUTH!" - But isn't that where they got the snake idea in the first place?

Comedy gold. Thanks again, Cartoonist.

[onager]

4. Yeah, the "go back to your Bible" was a head-scratcher.

Since that's where they got the idea in the first place, as you said.

From where I sit writing this, near the Smoky Mountains, I could easily attend some snake-handling churches. Not going to. As GHW Bush liked to say, wouldn't be prudent. And my curiosity about religious nutbaggery only goes so far.

Like most Xian practices "goin' awl the way back to Jebus & his apostles!1!" public snake-handling in the US is actually pretty new, only dating back to the early 1900s.

It is also illegal in every Southern state except West Virginia.* For whatever that's worth, which is apparently not much. Since we still get the occasional headline about a rattler or copperhead acting as the agent of some idiot's entry into Paradise.

*West Virginia actually has a state law forbidding any interference with a "religious practice." That was intended for the snake-handling constituents, I guess, but could open up some pretty interesting scenarios. I'm surprised $cientology hasn't moved its headquarters to West Virginia...

[PassingFair]

19. I went to a Skeptic's meeting to see Sam Singleton, the Atheist Evangelist...

http://www.samsingleton.com/



Before I attended his "revival"... I never realized how badly religion could fuck someone up.

Used to the boring Episcopalian services up here in the north, I was shocked at how
badly this man was affected by the snake-handling community he was born into.
(He watched as his grandfather was bitten IN THE EYE and died from a snake bite during
religious services.)

He clearly has serious issues to this day.

I don't have very much patience for people who claim that religion doesn't harm anyone.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. well. That is one fucking disturbed comic.

[edhopper]

3. And yet

we still have these "Crazy as a Loon" people around.

I also wonder what "truth" the Cap. Lawrence thinks they will find in the Bible.

[Lordquinton]

5. That last panel

Freedom of worship, but apparently only the right reading of the bible.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. "Your minds are poisoned."

That can be said about a lot of things to do with religion. But this really does put the cherry on top.

[Silent3]

7. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this. Maybe a snake bite.

But I started to wonder what these old comics would look like if you took away the yellowing of the paper and cleaned them up a bit.

[Cartoonist]

8. Good job!

What is your technique? I don't mind the yellowing so much, but I have a hard time cleaning it up without making the type hard to read.

[Silent3]

16. I used the eyedropper to sample the color in the cleanest area I could find...

...that was supposed to be white. In these various images, the color as RGB came out to be something like 240, 218, 171.

Then I went into Curves and adjusted red, green, and blue separately to brighten that color into being white.



For green and blue the Input values would be 218 and 171 respectively, both output to 255, just like red.

I did more clean up and adjustment beyond that, but that was the main trick to undoing the yellowing of the paper.

[Cartoonist]

17. Thank you, Sensei

Your instuctions were excellent, and they provided good results.


Before


After


Final

I see a color change completely across the board. Is that really just the removal of the yellowing underneath? I also see some degredation of the type, which is my main concern. Any wisdom on how to maintain that?

Before anyone accuses me of posting a racial toon, this is from one of the rarest comic books ever. It was called All Negro Comics, and was edited, written, drawn, and published by an all black staff. Unfortunately, the distributers were an all white monopoly, so the book got limited release.
I've held off including it in RITC because there is nothing related to religion in it. But since this is my show, I think I will feature a feww pages next week.

[Silent3]

18. Everything gets brighter when you do that, so you may lose some contrast...

...between the text and the background. One thing you can try is making the curves more curved, instead of just straight line slopes, pulled down a bit near the lower end, so the dark areas stay darker.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. the other weird part of this comic is the women

It seems that almost all of the snake worshiping women are busting out of their clingy dresses, a classic comic art trope aimed at their pre-playboy tween-age male readers.

[Lordquinton]

13. That is very cool

It's great seeing things restored like this, gives a better feel that they were real, and not just some historical artifact.

[AlbertCat]

9. Snake fashions!

Lovely Nicole is wearing a hypnotizing snake belt and extended bracelets by Ann Klein.... who has been dead for years now.....

[Cartoonist]

10. Thanks for the recs

Lately, this installment has fallen below the threshold. I was beginning to think there was no interest. Should I continue or am I boring everyone?

[mr blur]

12. Please continue!

I know what you mean - I tailed off with World of Whackjobs for the same reason - but in the end do it if you enjoy it. There are a couple of hundred views so not everybody who sees it wants to comment.

[Lordquinton]

14. I'm enjoying it

something I look forward to, but I understand if it's not performing as needed.

[edhopper]

15. I enjoy the Hell out of these.

[NeoGreen]

20. Yes, please continue...

... I am "enjoying" these.

How many of these do you have?

[Cartoonist]

21. The Web Provides

I don't actually have any of these comics. The web has many sites that archive old magazines and books. I have the Wolverton Bible and Robert Crumb's Genesis, but all the other posts so far have been stories taken from the internet. Look around. If you find anything that may be of interest here in RITC, PM me.