Comics as sites of religion

A brand-new comic book museum in Groningen and in Noordwijk aan Zee, in-depth reviews of graphic novels in quality newspapers, successful film adaptations of American comics in cinemas, on Netflix (Preacher) and Disney+ (Moon Knight). The comic book medium is in the spotlight, thriving both on the Web and in book form, as "seventh art" and as entertainment. Less well known is its multifaceted relationship with religion. Sociologist of religion Kees de Groot, who previously revealed the Catholic background of Tintin, provides a systematic overview of this in an entertaining volume entitled Comics, Culture and Religion. Faith Imagined. 'While research on religion in movies has been going on for some time, this is the first publication to convincingly show not only how religions interact with comics, but also what comics do with religion, and how comics have significance for rituals, ethics and meaning. It becomes clear that you cannot avoid comics if you want to understand how religion functions in today's mediated world,' De Groot said.