Testament, Vol. 4: Exodus

Testament #4

by Douglas Rushkoff, Liam Sharp (Illustrator), Dean Ormston (Illustrator)

VOL 04: Exodus

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Religion, Fiction, Comix, Collections, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2008

About the author

Douglas Rushkoff is a New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media and popular culture.

Reviews

[Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final entry in the Testament series. The ending felt a little rushed, but was overall very satisfactory. I liked Rushkoff's idea that the 10 plagues Moses sent against Egypt each killed a different Egyptian god. Turning the Nile river into blood kills the god of the Nile, the locusts destroy the corn god, the plague of darkness kills the sun god, etc. I was also intrigued by the idea that Miriam was not only the sister of Moses, but also his mother. Rushkoff cites Gwen Nowak's book Miriam of Nazareth for this interpretation. This explains why there are several references to Miriam's shame in Exodus and why it's not clear who Moses's parents are. (Since the Hebrew word for "spit" is the same as the Hebrew word for "ejaculate", we get a whole new way of looking at Numbers 12:14.) Also, in order to be a messiah, a man must be born to a woman free of Eve's sin (i.e. a woman who hasn't menstruated yet), thus both Moses and Jesus were born to young women who hadn't yet gotten their period. A very interesting read.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, but the entire premise is getting kind of old so I doubt I'll continue reading. I did like the ending a lot.

[TheWord · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5

[Eldan Goldenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly excellent, but badly let down by a couple of weaknesses. I got the feeling that Rushkoff was starting to get tired of writing these, so in a couple of places he started to spell out the 'rules' a little too explicitly for my liking, as if he was grasping for a way to bring it to a close. And then the ending itself was horrible! I understand the desire to have modern humans overthrow the gods, but the way he did just didn't add up. If one of the major themes of the series is the constant danger of slavery to greed & materialism, that ending was a triumph of those things presented as a triumph of humans.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

That ending did seem pretty rushed after all the build up leading up to it.
I don`t know if the author ended it so quickly for lack of ales, or if this was the intended wrap up to his story. But it either way, it felt cut off short of it`s full resolution.
Lots of cool ideas appeared in this story, but few managed to grip me all that much... kinda like that other book that`s so often mentioned, and refered to, and inspired by, that pops up all over the place in this one.

The entire series (all four volumes) also gets a three star... not a great set of grphic novels. but still Worth the read, if onlyh for the Entertainment level.

[Gphatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose this entry gets only 3 stars because I didn't really like the ending too much. Granted, with all the themes and issues propelling this story forward, the ending may be one of the few suitable endings possible. But I found it abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. Maybe I just wanted the story to continue . . .

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do believe Vertigo hurried Rushkoff along throughout this series, so it seems that some themes were left undeveloped or unexplored. Unfortunate, really, as the premise is and has been, for me, a resonating truism.

[Ryan Haupt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think in a lot of ways this book might have been too cerebral for it's own good. I was never in love with the series as much as I was the concept and without the liner notes from Rushkoff a lot of the intention would have been lost. And Sharp as an artist just never grew on me.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen to my review on V for Vertigo, Episode 85 at http://vforvertigo.blogspot.com or on iTunes.