High Heaven: The Austerity Gospel

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High Heaven: The Austerity Gospel by Tom Peyer is a religious satire, and a very interesting read. I’m slightly worried about giving everything away, so I’m going to try really hard here. High Heaven is the story of a man so disgruntled by his own life that when he dies, he’s not really surprised. He is however surprised by what heaven is. To me, aside from the religious aspects, this story is about expectations, and how they color your reactions to them. Yes, there is a good deal of religious matter strewn throughout and it will make you think, but I don’t believe that is all you will get out of this story. I found it really intriguing and can’t wait to see what will come next.

As a part of being allowed to read this story early, I also got the chance to ask the author some questions. There have been times when I really wished I was able to talk in person to an author, and this was definitely one of those times. Sadly we only communicated through email, but it was still nice to see some insight into the man behind such an interesting story.

 

1. Where did your idea come from?

You know how you strike a particular vein of humor with a friend, and the more you keep digging at it together the funnier it becomes? That’s how it started with me and Mary Siau. We were imagining Crap Heaven, and adding details, and laughing, and adding details, until we had so much material it just had to become a story.

2. Did you laugh a lot when you came up with the Ken doll idea? (can we mention that pretty please?)

It sounds like you might have laughed, for which I’m grateful. I don’t remember if I did that day, but I do sometimes. In the mid-20th century there was a New Yorker writer, AJ Leibling, whose work I’ve enjoyed a lot. He was so amused by his own (very amusing) writing that he’d laugh out loud as he typed. I’m not there yet, but I hope to be.

3. Have you experienced any pushback about this story?

Not a bit! I think it’s because we don’t go deeper into religion than pop culture always has: clouds, St. Peter, angels, that’s about it. We kept it pretty secular. But I wish an economist would get mad at us for mocking austerity.

I should add that AHOY is not afraid to satirize religious issues, as the July 10th release of our new series SECOND COMING will prove.

4. Does your personal views on faith or religion play into this?

I will admit that, as a child, I went to a religious school–and as an adult, I took juvenile pleasure in doing a book about heaven with bad words in it.

5. Any hints about what is coming next?

In Book Two, being written and drawn now, Heather will play at least as important a role as David. She’ll be waging a full-on war against L-Meat, the force that cheapens life and afterlife. Meanwhile, David will be exiled to a heaven that’s so bad, so awful, so completely objectionable, that he’ll wish he were back where he started

 

Ahoy Comics released High Heaven to comic stores last month, and bookstores today!

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