Wednesday, January 14, 2009

 

Why Kurt Busiek is not quite as awesome as I may have lead you to believe


Okay, so Busiek put a superhero embassy in Jerusalem, and now 10 issues later (Trinity #33, Jan. '09 (II), to be precise), he's placing a battle in Tel Aviv after showing various other global locales. Fine and dandy. But look at this:
"אב הרחמים שוכן מרומים, ברחמיו העצומים הוא יפקוד ברחמים החסידים, והישרים..."

Major kudos for choosing a relatively obscure (to the non-religious) prayer to put here--and transliterate it perfectly, if I may say so myself--but this is the Av HaRachamim, the Prayer for the Martyrs. This woman is running for her life. Even a secular Jew--which she is--would be able to tell you that when you believe you are in mortal peril and/or about to die, you recite the Sh'ma--"Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One". Even is this woman was formerly religious and therefore knows Av HaRachamim, I doubt she'd say it then.

TODAY'S BOOK: "Dreams of Victory", by Ellen Conford ((c) 1973)

YOUR HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY: Leo - Avoid the E. coli-infected cucumbers like the one you're in the middle of eating ; Pegasus - Congratulations, you've become the 13th member of the Zodiac and your destiny is controlled by the planet Pluto. Oh, wait...

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Comments:
Ha!

She's not praying for herself, but for the fallen.

But glad someone took notice.

kdb
 
Obviously, that's what the Prayer for the Martyrs is all about.

But may I note that she is, in fact, running for her life, along with her son. I think she would be a bit more preoccupied with their physical wellbeing, or the state of their souls (a snippet of the Viduy--the Hebrew Last Confession--would have worked here as well). I stand by my observation.

Glad to see that there's someone out there almost as neurotic about finding himslef mentioned online as I am.

I also refuse to be cowed by the enormity of an actual celebrity commenting on my blog for the first time ever.
<_<
>_>
I'm touching Kurt Busiek! I'm hugging Kurt Busiek!! I'M HOLDING KURT BUSIEK OVER MY HEAD!!!
 
That's not her son, it's her brother.

And she's not exactly running for her life, since no one's attacking her -- the fight is way off in the background at the moment.

So sure, she could have been praying for her own safety, but she's surrounded by dead people and it's possible, at that point, that her parents are among them. She's overwhelmed, but she's thinking about all these people suddenly cut down more than she's thinking about imminently joining them.

So there's nothing wrong with the idea that she could be praying for herself, but I'll stand by her praying for the fallen.

Hope you liked the story, in any case.

kdb
 
Oh, yes. You've wiped away the stench of that awful Countdown series.
 
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