23 by DiabolicalJinx on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

There's a lot of fun details to unpack in this scene.

I recall in the first chapter that God could remove his eye and it acted independently of his body. The Bible often refers to God as a spirit, and how he is stronger than any flesh, but God is mentioned a few times to have appeared to others in a body. To Ezekiel he appeared as a glowing bronze man with a rainbow aura. To Abraham he appeared as a human man. Also worth noting, is in the example with Ezekiel, God sent his spirit and transported Ezekiel to a different location. Then a glowing arm reached down -- with no body connected to the arm -- and presented a scroll to Ezekiel. I think God being able to project body parts is logically consistent with the Bible.

I like to think the visual of the eyeball separating from God is like a metaphor that Lucifer and Michael can understand -- that his mind, his all seeing power is something that transcends the body that is in front of them. It's not even that the eye is literally a glowing eyeball, but I like to think it's like his soul/energy core -- the real God that is immortal and untouchable -- but giving the core an eyeball is a visual metaphor that lets Michael and Lucifer know that God is staring at them. Emotional cues matter, so God is trying to make himself knowable to them.

I love the halo and the earrings. I know halos are cliche by now, but they are mentioned multiple times in the Bible. The angels have halos, but so too does God. I like that God's halo has a symbol attached to it, separating him as a special status above the angels. He's the king, so course his halo has to look different. I love the continuation of the "he's got the whole world in his hands" symbolism by having planets hang off of his earrings. It's easy to think of the planets as just symbolic, but it would be amusing to me if planets that God favors live on his body. Hell, imagine aliens living on those planets seeing all sorts of bizarre energy spectacles every time God performs a miracle, and they turn it into a tourist attraction! That would be silly. :^P

I like the body language cues from Michael and Lucifer. In the first panel both of their head wings are up, showing that they're prepared mentally to face God (or at least they think they are). In the second panel you can see that Michael is standing at attention, with her head wings standing at full attention, suggesting that Michael knows Lucifer is an easy scape goat. Lucifer is slouched forward slightly, and her head wings are hanging down like an upset puppy would put his ears down. Lucifer knows she's dead to rights, and the Hand of God is ready for some spanking. It's subtle, but it conveys a lot of emotion without the need for words.

However, God's facial expression doesn't look like extreme frustration, but more of a tired expression. He's had clearly had to put up with this kind of tomfoolery before, and he just wishes his children would get their act together. Maybe I'm misreading it, and he really is wrath of God mode, but it seems like a more subtle affection for Lucifer than the boney predator he was in the last chapter.

Anyway, I'm sorry for going overboard again. Maybe one day I'll find a way to analyze things without being excessive. :^P