The harrowing of Hell

In Christian theology, the Harrowing refers to Christ's journey, following his death, through Hell. This interpretation of an apocryphal story begins with a brief yet tense sentencing and crucifixion, after which Jesus grievously chooses to descend. As he makes his way through the cavernous underworld, braving diabolic horrors and freeing the condemned, his path is intercut by pertinent flashbacks from his life teaching a disciple, restoring sight to a blind man, threatening to overthrow the corrupted temple. Dahm strips away millennia of dogmatic bloat in order to explore the heart of Christianity: the moment Christ fulfills his messianic destiny. This tightly crafted work is unified by powerful themes, questioning crooked notions of a Kingdom of God and examining the power of story. Dialogue is sparse conveyed in a style recalling the King James Bible and not a word or pen stroke is wasted. Thick, inky blacks dominate the pages, colored solely by a bittersweet red, offering spot coloring in the living world and flooding every corner of Hell. Most impressive, perhaps, is Dahm's rendering of Christ as a character. Though he's largely silent, a stirring depth of humanity comes through in his subtle expressions and gestures, and it's the character's unassuming nature that gives this book its crucially light touch. Unpretentious and compellingly philosophical, this story will plant a seed of thought in any teen or adult interested in theology or religious history.--Ronny Khuri Copyright 2020 Booklist

Dahm (Rice Boy) nobly tackles one of the less commonly dramatized stories from Christian mythology: the days between Christ's death and Resurrection, which, according to apocryphal tradition, Jesus spent freeing righteous souls from Hell. After Caesar's verdict and the Crucifixion, Dahm's large-eyed, soft-spoken Jesus descends to an underworld that resembles the Roman Empire, where he faces mocking demons, unbelieving dead, and the same human complexities that also make the redemption of the living difficult. With brushy line work, the stripped-down color scheme represents Hell and death in washes of red, and the world of the living in black and white. Not a simple Sunday school retelling of scripture, Dahm's ambitious graphic novel grapples with the revolutionary humility of Christ's message, envisioning the cost of fighting evil with nonviolence and compassion. In the climax, Jesus meets the devil and faces his own personal hell: a future in which his followers become conquerors themselves because "the only kingdom they know is the crucifying kingdom." If this slim but provocative volume doesn't provide enough space to fully explore the demands and contradictions of Christianity, it still succeeds as a challenging conversation starter. (Mar.)