Spring Break
Comic book genius from Brandeis
Rising comic book star, A. David Lewis '99, publishes new work and discusses the inspiriation he gleaned from his alma mater.
by Daniel D. Snyder
Associate Editor
Arts | 3/11/08
Posted online at 1:40 AM EST on 3/11/08
Though Lewis claims that he is not particularly religious, his stories have an undeniable biblical influence. With this in mind, Lewis thinks his works would be "surprising to people who knew me growing up in Framingham or even people who knew me at Brandeis." His first collaboration with the artist Marvin Perry Mann, The Lone and Level Sands, tells the story of the exodus from Egypt, while Some New Kind of Slaughter addresses the story of Noah and the Flood.
Yet his stories are not simple retellings. With both his graphic novels, Lewis has spun the stories on their heads, "looking at it through other traditions," as well as other timelines and cultures' mythos. Despite his early aversion towards religion, Lewis says his problem was "not with religion …. I think that I discovered that my problem was a bad association with organized religion. It didn't allow enough room for the questions that I had."
However, Lewis doesn't want religion to color his entire body of work. "Probably my next work [will be] something a bit more secular," he says. "My next work is going to deal with the fantastic and modern baseball. So it's a little bit of a departure. I tend to enjoy stories that have already been told and taking them and spinning them and distorting them. So it will be similar in that context, but it won't be biblically based."
Yet his stories are not simple retellings. With both his graphic novels, Lewis has spun the stories on their heads, "looking at it through other traditions," as well as other timelines and cultures' mythos. Despite his early aversion towards religion, Lewis says his problem was "not with religion …. I think that I discovered that my problem was a bad association with organized religion. It didn't allow enough room for the questions that I had."
However, Lewis doesn't want religion to color his entire body of work. "Probably my next work [will be] something a bit more secular," he says. "My next work is going to deal with the fantastic and modern baseball. So it's a little bit of a departure. I tend to enjoy stories that have already been told and taking them and spinning them and distorting them. So it will be similar in that context, but it won't be biblically based."
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