Testament: Akedah (Paperback)

~ (Author), Liam Sharp (Illustrator) "BUT FATHER....." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Rushkoff sets two story lines going here. In one, the draft has been reinstated in a near-future U.S., and potential draftees are implanted with chips that make their whereabouts traceable and allow the government to compel compliance. The other consists of three episodes in the story of Abraham: the near-sacrifice of Isaac, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the battle that Abraham leads to free his nephew, Lot (in Genesis, however, the battle precedes Sodom and Gomorrah). The two plots develop in tandem, with characters in one corresponding to those in the other, and the cosmic conflict between Jehovah and the combined forces of Astarte and Moloch framing both. The Isaac counterpart, grown to hunky young manhood, stars in the modern story, thereby allowing several steamy encounters with the young female characters. Well composed and drawn by Sharp, and gorgeously full colored, the whole thing is like nothing so much as Cecil B. DeMille's first Ten Commandments (1923), with its sin, skin, liminal piety, and double plot. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

From the imagination of best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff, one of the most iconoclastic and acclaimed minds of our era, comes a graphic novel series that exposes the "real" Bible as it was actually written, and reveals how its mythic tales are repeated today.

Grad student Jake Stern leads an underground band of renegades that uses any means necessary to combat the frightening threats to freedom that permeate the world. They employ technology, alchemy, media hacking and mysticism to fight a modern threat that has its roots in ancient stories destined to recur in the modern age.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (July 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401210635
• ISBN-13: 978-1401210632
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #107,572 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Check It Out, this changes everything..., September 12, 2006

By	Scott A. Riddle - See all my reviews

"the most assured and original project to emerge from Vertigo since SANDMAN." - Comic Buyer's Guide

"Make no mistake, The Greatest Story Ever Told continues right here?" - Grant Morrison

"A stunning, richly entertaining book!" - Robert Anton Wilson, co-author "The Illuminatus! Trilogy"

"Rushkoff is one of the great thinkers - and writers - of our time!" - Timothy Leary

"Impossible to put down... chock full of cool, forward-looking ideas. Grade: A" - VARIETY.COM

"Intriguing! Well worth the time to check out." - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS


Testament is a book about Humanity and Gods and the struggle between Evil and Good. The book moves seamlessly between three different times and planes of existence, which are Modern Present time (but it is set slightly in the future), Past Historical Biblical time, and the supernatural Realm of the Gods.

In the modern/future present time there are three major events taking place. One being the fact that the government requires that people have computer chips implanted in their bodies. The second is the emergence of artificial intelligence that has been created by a computer scientist but unfortunately has escaped from his computer into the Internet. The third event is a major corporation is beginning a move to usurp power by changing currency/money into a new very different form that I don't believe has been revealed yet but it sounds very spooky.

So basically there are college aged radicals who have refused to have the chips implanted and are living outside the law. One of these is the son of the creator of the computer chips, who when creating them had no notion that the government would actually use the chips beyond what he or most others believed was acceptable in a way I'll just say reminiscent of the Kent State Massacre on May 4 1970.

So what is taking place in the present events is a reflection of what had taken place in the Bible. Rushkoff does a few things here that I feel need mentioning, he shows us stories from the Bible but he doesn't either show them as or disregard their being sacred events, obviously he believes they are important because they are illustrations of the Gods attempts to influence humanity, but he tells both the modern and those past in a way that makes them both entertainingly modern, relevant, and human.

Basically the story jumps back and forth between what is happening "Now" and what happened in the Bible. Instead of Just God and Satan Rushkoff has Krishna the Hindu God on the side of good along with the Christian God or more specifically the Jewish God (because the comic only has to do with the old testament) and the Evil Gods I think are Egyptian, Hindu and third is Jewish. Like every character in the story the Gods are thankfully multidimensional that is to say they don't come across as 100 percent pure good or pure evil.

Douglas Rushkoff, uniquely qualified to write such a book, outside of comics might be consider a Futurist or a Media Guru, at least an expert on such topics in addition to Judaism, which he wrote a book on called "Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism" I've seen him on panels on CNN and speaking at Disinformation counterculture conferences, he is a what most would considered a modern day Renaissance Man. He writes books on Ecstasy eating Ravers, advises the United Nations, plays keyboards in the radical group Psychic TV, and writes comic books.

A Great story that makes one think about what these stories may actually be and makes one question what is the current real world's spiritual significance.

My review is based on the first 9 issues I've read only once but am looking forward to rereading them again.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Innovative and yet not quite awesome., February 12, 2007

By	Guillermo Alcantara (Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Testament feels good. You end up knowing the take is different than anything you've read. It's propositive and gets you thinking about new ways to handle the myth. However, it fails to close completely. It's like it's a great concept behind, but the implementation is somewhat not as good. The storytelling is good, but characters aren't so fleshed out.

In other words, read it, though it could've been much more polished.

Haven't seen the second part, maybe it shouldn't be split.

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Checking Out., December 11, 2006

By	T. Tiu - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Good: Intellectually challenging, and very intriguing. I really want to read more and find out what where this story is going. The writing is definitely literate. The art is excellent as well.

The Bad: It feels too much like the first third of a story. Primarily set up. Which is perfectly fine, since it's a collection of an ongoing comic book. However, after reading the entire thing there were more questions than answers, and my concern is that it might be unsatisfactory and turn off readers. It was kind of confusing. If I didn't know the Bible stories, I would be even more confused. The premise requires that you be familiar with the background material to begin with, and the hard balance is not having too much exposition to compensate. It's definitely high concept.

The Bottom Line: Ultimately, the question is, is it entertaining? I would say yes, so I definitely recommend this new book from Vertigo and hope that you would support this book as well. If it gets the chance to continue, I think the payoff will be well worth it.