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Serenity 1: Bad Girl in Town
Serenity comes to James A. Madison High School with a very bad attitude, a police record, and a history of trouble in school, but members of the school's Prayer Club are determined to be her friends, even when she is accused of stealing money collected for a homeless shelter.
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 23, 2019
Yikes.
I think, to its credit, this book tries to break some stereotypes about Christians and make Christianity seems "cool" in general. Which. Fine. Good for you. I remember appreciating this series because it didn't shy away from heavy topics.
I had two particular issues:
1) The discussion of the N-word lacked nuance. A youth group is discussing what makes bad language "bad," and a Black girl says, "The N-word is pretty awful!" and then a Black guy says, "But it isn't obscene." As a white reader (who doesn't know the races of the people who worked on this manga), I don't really know what to do with that. Yes, the N-word is pretty awful. And no... it isn't "obscene," if you mean "sexually explicit," I guess? But the N-word in particular is complicated both by the violently racist structures that have always affected Black people in American as well as the fact that many Black people choose to reclaim that word for themselves. I certainly don't think this book is the place to hash that discussion out; however, to leave a probably-White teen audience with the impression that "the N-word is bad, but it could be worse" is just... embarrassing.
2) The caricature of a feminist woman was amusingly bad. The way Ms. Baxter is drawn with pointy glasses and a short haircut kind of makes her seem almost demonic. She says things like "Mr. Pyle is hopelessly mired in outdated Eurocentric masculine precepts!" and "The educational system mustn't impose obsolete patriarchal values on young women." First of all, at least in the districts I grew up in, there would not be counselors telling students to disobey their teachers. That ain't a happening thing. Beyond that, though, Ms. Baxter's character is designed to highlight the "enticing" aspects of the feminist movement (freedom! etc.), but with the underlying supposition that feminism is immoral (or amoral), and that feminism makes men and women enemies. This is a pretty typical mischaracterization of feminism by Christians, but still, yikes.
(I also find it funny that Serenity's first encounter with the dangers of feminism feminism was spurred on by an encounter with a traditional teacher teaching Shakespeare. In both high school and college, my teachers and professors were enthusiastic about reading Shakespeare through feminist lenses. A little ironic.)
Overall, I think Serenity is a compelling character, but the Christian characters' savior complexes are relentlessly rewarded, which is silly. And, surprise, surprise, it's problematic.
I think, to its credit, this book tries to break some stereotypes about Christians and make Christianity seems "cool" in general. Which. Fine. Good for you. I remember appreciating this series because it didn't shy away from heavy topics.
I had two particular issues:
1) The discussion of the N-word lacked nuance. A youth group is discussing what makes bad language "bad," and a Black girl says, "The N-word is pretty awful!" and then a Black guy says, "But it isn't obscene." As a white reader (who doesn't know the races of the people who worked on this manga), I don't really know what to do with that. Yes, the N-word is pretty awful. And no... it isn't "obscene," if you mean "sexually explicit," I guess? But the N-word in particular is complicated both by the violently racist structures that have always affected Black people in American as well as the fact that many Black people choose to reclaim that word for themselves. I certainly don't think this book is the place to hash that discussion out; however, to leave a probably-White teen audience with the impression that "the N-word is bad, but it could be worse" is just... embarrassing.
2) The caricature of a feminist woman was amusingly bad. The way Ms. Baxter is drawn with pointy glasses and a short haircut kind of makes her seem almost demonic. She says things like "Mr. Pyle is hopelessly mired in outdated Eurocentric masculine precepts!" and "The educational system mustn't impose obsolete patriarchal values on young women." First of all, at least in the districts I grew up in, there would not be counselors telling students to disobey their teachers. That ain't a happening thing. Beyond that, though, Ms. Baxter's character is designed to highlight the "enticing" aspects of the feminist movement (freedom! etc.), but with the underlying supposition that feminism is immoral (or amoral), and that feminism makes men and women enemies. This is a pretty typical mischaracterization of feminism by Christians, but still, yikes.
(I also find it funny that Serenity's first encounter with the dangers of feminism feminism was spurred on by an encounter with a traditional teacher teaching Shakespeare. In both high school and college, my teachers and professors were enthusiastic about reading Shakespeare through feminist lenses. A little ironic.)
Overall, I think Serenity is a compelling character, but the Christian characters' savior complexes are relentlessly rewarded, which is silly. And, surprise, surprise, it's problematic.
August 18, 2020
My little brother and I have gotten into the habit of reading Christian manga together, doing the voices of the characters and chatting about the stories. Often Christian manga is not very good—we used to read Twelve Gates (a free Christian equivalent to Shobuen Jump) and the manga on the Christian Manga website. Unfortunately both are now defunct and their websites are even gone.
So just for fun I bought this manga for my bro and I to read together. While mostly unknown, this manga received some notoriety when a panel from the book became a meme (look up “Whoops! Can’t show that in a Christian manga!”.
So the actual comic, how is it?
The story is about a teenager named Serenity who is a bit of a delinquent and the local youth group kids who reach out to her. While by no means a great story, I still appreciated that the Christian characters are not depicted as perfect angels, and the plot isn’t driven by supernatural coincidences. Plus Serenity doesn’t just suddenly become a Christian in the first volume, and deals with a crappy life. None of this is dealt with in subtlety or with particular flair though. It’s a pretty cheesy story and the art is below par.
Still I had fun reading it with my brother!
So just for fun I bought this manga for my bro and I to read together. While mostly unknown, this manga received some notoriety when a panel from the book became a meme (look up “Whoops! Can’t show that in a Christian manga!”.
So the actual comic, how is it?
The story is about a teenager named Serenity who is a bit of a delinquent and the local youth group kids who reach out to her. While by no means a great story, I still appreciated that the Christian characters are not depicted as perfect angels, and the plot isn’t driven by supernatural coincidences. Plus Serenity doesn’t just suddenly become a Christian in the first volume, and deals with a crappy life. None of this is dealt with in subtlety or with particular flair though. It’s a pretty cheesy story and the art is below par.
Still I had fun reading it with my brother!
September 29, 2009
My first time ever to read a graphic novel. This is a christain manga. It was pretty good considering I dont have anything to compare it to.
Want to Read
April 29, 2015I think that it is a nice book
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews