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StumbleuponAction Philosophers! #2: All-Sex Special
Writer: Fred Van Lente; Pencils and Inks: Ryan Dunlavey
Finally, a comic book that doesn’t show roided-out nitwits beating each other over the head with their own narcissism. The Xeric Foundation produced a book that is both educational and humorous, both of which are missing in today’s comics.
The authors cover three philosophers, Thomas Jefferson, Saint Augustine, and Ayn Rand. Each have been influential, but reading their philosophical works means we miss their underlying humanity. Most of us only encounter philosophy in school, and everything but the philosophers’ genius is whitewashed from their lives.
Issue #2 of Action Philosophers helps fill the gap between reality and what we learned in school. Van Lente’s real accomplishment with this issue was connecting these very different idealists by how they lived within contradictions. Thomas Jefferson’s belief in freedom and his simultaneous owning of slaves. Saint Augustine’s desire to harmonize free will with an omnipotent god, and his willingness to accept and promote a philosophy which is wholly unable to do so. Ayn Rand’s quest for a life of reason, and her decidedly unreasonable affair and jealousy. Van Lente and Dunlavey remove all three from our stale textbook visions and fully place them in our world of lust, envy, hypocrisy, and greed.
Pick up a copy of Action Philosophers! #2: All-Sex Special. Not only will you be supporting the valued Xeric Foundation, you’ll experience a little history, a little philosophy, and a lot of what it means to be human. Give it a chance.
[...] Action Philosophers! #2 got a lot of praise from me for bringing each philosopher’s humanity to the readers. Issue #5 deserves the same praise, but rather than simply repeat what’s already been said, I’d like to address something else. Issue #5 works very hard to take some incredibly complicated ideas, make them accessible to the average reader, and provide a foundation to learn and understand more. [...]
[...] There is some talk around the blogosphere that this issue didn’t measure up to the previous issues, mostly because these were not topics that the creators chose and they didn’t seem to like them as much. I’m not sure where other reviewers are getting this from. While I liked #2 the best, especially the snappy title, The People’s Choice was easily as good as all of the previous issues. Excellent condensing of complicated ideas, amusing drawings, and something completely different from anything else on the comic stores’ shelves. [...]