After a bumpier than expected road to its release, Mark Russell and Richard Pace’s Second Coming is headed to a comic shop and bookstore near you, in a new collected paperback from Ahoy Comics. And true to form, the first volume has earned a special foreword from Patton Oswalt, one comedian equally unafraid of courting (worthwhile) controversy.

In its earliest days at DC Comics, Second Coming seemed a perfect fit for the Vertigo spirit: what if Jesus Christ returned to the modern world of comic book superheroes, witnessing how the public adored those who used violence ‘for good,’ and how his teachings had been adapted over 2,000 years. But those who saw the series as blasphemous or offensive – before a single issue was released – made enough noise to see Second Coming canceled by DC, with rights returning to the creators. All too eager to share in this next ‘blasphemous’ satire, Ahoy Comics welcomed Second Coming… ensuring its brilliant examination of modern Christianity would see the light of day. And now, the first six issues are available in a single collected edition.

Writer Mark Russell’s work on both The Flintstones and The Snagglepuss Chronicles earned attention of their own, so it’s no surprise to see an actor and comedian like Oswalt make his support for Second Coming known. And alongside Pace and Leonard Kirk, the overall series has delivered one unforgettable moment after another. As Russell stated in Issue #1, Second Coming doesn’t inject Jesus into the world of superheroes for shock value, but as a moral and timely challenge to “the assumption that you can fix the world with punishment.” And in case anyone missed the chance to follow this series from the start, Screen Rant is pleased to offer a preview of Second Coming, along with the new foreword by Patton Oswalt reprinted below.

The official preview pages from Second Coming can be found below, with the full first volume, collecting the first six issues, available now:

If Jesus ever came back he’d be disgusted with the world. What’s more, no one would believe he was Jesus. They’d treat him like a loon and probably toss his loinclothed ass in jail.

Who would win a fight, Jesus or Superman?

These were hack premises when I started doing stand-up in the late ’80s. They’ve since been beaten to death in a hundred different mediums – films, TV, literature, music. You name it. Comic books – both mainstream and alternative – have also run endless variations on this idea. There’s no meat left on those bones, us comedians used to say, when a premise had been pulped to a husk.

Which is what makes Ahoy Comics’ Second Coming such a – pardon the pun – miracle. This is Jesus plopped into our cynical, post-meta-ironic-lulz world, paired up with a deconstructed superhero. And you start reading the first issue and you’re already running every joke through your head, but damn if Mark Russell, Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk don’t keep surprising you at every turn.

Suffice to say I’m going to try and NOT spoil any of the surprises in this one. So lemme talk to you about it the way we’d talk about it over a cup of coffee. I’m trying to be enthusiastic without ruining the pleasure of you discovering it. But I also need to get across the little moments that make up the whole.

Like the food court in heaven, full of discontinued franchises, and how my heart leapt a little when I saw the Burger Chef kiosk. Or Jesus’ take on miracles and wonder working, and how his rejection of them makes him even more Christ-like. And Satan’s entire role in this, which is NOT what you’d expect. And how Brian Cox in Succession would be perfect to play this comic’s take on God. And poor Sunstar, a demigod whose partner is an actual god. Seeing a metahuman humbled by the sheer sanity and reasonableness of Jesus was NOT how I saw a Jesus/Superman fight going.

You’re about to experience Second Coming. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

PATTON OSWALT

Los Angeles

January 16th 2020

The collected Second Coming Vol. 1 is available today in your local comic book shop, and in bookstores everywhere on March 10th, 2020.

The book everyone’s talking about, by award-winning writer Mark Russell (Wonder Twins, The Flintstones) and artist Richard Pace (Pitt, New Warriors) …now in one volume! God commands Earth’s mightiest superhero, Sunstar, to accept Jesus as his roommate and teach him how to use power more forcefully. Jesus, shocked at the way humans have twisted his message over two millennia, vows to straighten them out. Collects Second Coming #1-6.

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