Chosen (Dark Horse)

(Dark Horse, 2004-2005)
™ and © 2004 Mark Millar and Peter Gross

One of the more troubling verses in the Gospels is Luke 2:50. That’s where Joseph and Mary say they don’t understand what their son means when he refers to the Temple as His Father’s house. After the annunciation, the visitation, and all the other miraculous circumstances surrounding His birth, how could they not?

Perhaps inadvertently, Chosen sheds some light on this Biblical quandary. Jodie Christianson (check the initials) is the Second Coming or reincarnation of Jesus. His parents also know what he’s supposed to be; they just don’t quite accept it yet.

This doesn’t completely solve the question of Luke for us, since it says there that they didn’t understand, not “it was then that they believed.” But when was the last time a comic book lent itself to this kind of scholarly debate?

Most comics involving Jesus, aside from Christian comics, pride themselves on being cutting-edge. That usually translates into plot developments of a decidedly ungodly nature. Here is a comic book that manages to blaze new territory within religion without being overtly offensive.

Some people will always be offended by fictional portrayals of religion; here, at least, it’s not Millar’s intention to offend. (This is the reverse of Millar’s The Unfunnies, whose entire reason for being seems to be to shock the reader.)

For those who fondly recall Charles Sailor’s out-of-print novel The Second Son, this comic book addresses similar themes, including the protagonist surviving an accident without a scratch.

— Jack Abramowitz

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