Megacontemplations cover image

Through Candle Light Press, writer John Ira Thomas has published a number of comics and graphic novels.  For the last few years, he has published, Fragmenta, a series of magazines/books (mooks) offering readers a look at his creative process.  The fourth Fragmenta, Megacontemplations: a fragmenta fable, is a bit different.

Over three decades ago, young Mr. Thomas was in Sunday school, when he was asked to making a drawing that reflected what he and his classmates had learned that day.  What Li’l John Ira drew would be considered blasphemous or rude if drawn by an adult, but from the point of view of a child, the drawing is both cute and startling.  [Clink on the link below to get a large-sized view of the original drawing – Page 1].

Years later, he drew a second image, somewhat related to the first, for his frequent collaborator and friend, the superb comic book artist and illustrator, Jeremy Smith. [Clink on the second link below to see a large-sized view of that second drawing.]  The new page took the inspiration of the childhood drawing (apparently the Holy Bible – 2 Kings 17:26) and moves the idea in another direction.

At the 2012 MegaCon, Thomas decided to see what else could happen in this story he started over 30 years earlier.  So, this is my interpretation.  The god of a particular king goes into a lion’s body, but later the lion is redeemed while the god falls (or falls injured).  The light emanating from the lion sets in motion the selfish acts of the Grey Kings and thus, begins another journey – to redemption and the healing of a god or to self-induced destruction.

Megacontemplations leaves the readers to their own mental devices.  It is like a picture book for adults, but drawn in a faux-crude, childlike style, and it reminds me of a handmade book or comic.  It is a fable that reads like micro-sized high fantasy wearing the short pants of children’s literature:  Tolkien arm wrestles Lewis on Aesop’s turf.

You might say that Megacontemplations is one of those evil books that “puts ideas in your head.”  Reading it sparked my imagination and sent it on flights of fancy.  You can’t ask more of that from a book, and if you can, it’s because you don’t like to read.

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