Panel 1: In the title panel of this colour comic, the words "WEST
OF BATHURST" are on fire against a black background. "BY KARI MAAREN"
is below in red. Casey stands behind the flaming letters, looking
slightly baffled as Barbara holds devil horns up behind his head.
Panel 2: Casey
and Barbara are in their graduate class on the role of the devil in
literature. Their professor, a woman with brown hair and glasses, sits
at a small desk arranged in a circle with five other small desks, all
occupied by students. Clockwise from the professor, the students are a
blond white man, Barbara, Casey, a brown-haired white man, and a
black-haired brown woman.
Professor: Out of curiosity: when someone says "the devil" or "Satan" to you, what's the first image that springs to mind?
Blond Man: Paradise Lost.
Black-Haired Woman: Christ's temptation.
Brown-Haired Man: The garden of Eden.
Panel 3:
Professor: Casey? Any of those?
Casey: Well...not really. Sometimes, sure, but generally, I see the folkloric devil.
Panel 4: We
briefly get a different angle in this panel. We can see that Casey is
sitting in front of a blackboard, on which someone has chalked various
notations: "1066" circled, with an arrow pointing to "Norman Invasion";
"642" underlined twice; the declinations of the Latin noun "agricola";
the words "misplaced modifer"; and "pp. Ro," which would probably make
more sense if most of it weren't hidden by the brown-haired man's head.
Casey:
I mean...what if "the devil" or "Satan" or whatever you want to call
him isn't actually in Hell? What if he's a wanderer out in the world?
Panel 5:
Casey:
The Miltonic Satan is portrayed as a prisoner. The folkloric devil is
free...constrained only by human rules and rituals. His chains are your chains.
Panel 6: Everyone is staring pretty intensely at Casey by this point. Casey begins to notice about halfway through his next line.
Casey: I like the idea that somehow, the devil is really just like you. It seems...to me...it...it...I...uh...
Panel 7:
Casey [shiftily]: ........us. The devil is really just like us.
Barbara [points at Casey]: My idea of Satan is sitting right there.
Alt-Text: I wish the words in my dissertation would burst into flame like that...
|