Heaven’s War by Micah Harris
Graphic Novel, 120 pages
Image Comics 2003; ISBN: 1582403309
Heaven’s War is a fictional story about the Inklings (JRR Tolkien,
CS Lewis, and Charles Williams) and their accidental involvement in the war
between Lucifer’s army and the host of Heaven. I’d heard about this book
over a year ago, couldn’t find it, then forgot about it. When I saw a
copy of it at Barne’s & Noble, I snatched it up and raced home to
read it.
First, the good part: For fans of fantastic fiction and alternate history,
Heaven’s War is about as cool a story as they come. It includes just
about everything on my checklist of Things Joshua Likes: Lewis, Tolkien, and
Williams, along with AW Waite and Aliester Crowley; the Cathars, Knights Templar,
and the Priory of Scion; secret societies and grand conspiracies; time travel,
mystic visions, angels, demons, and co-inherence out the wazoo; mystery, danger,
and philosophical speechifying. If Harris had somehow managed to work in
pirates, I would have exploded with glee.
Gushing enthusiasm for the story aside, I must admit I wasn’t thrilled
with the art. The line drawings were fine, and I know it is the current
fad for edgier comic fare, but I’m not a huge fan of the unshaded black
and white aesthetic. There was a nifty Dave McKean-looking cover, but
the inside was a little flat. The writing itself was pretty good (though
I can see some readers being annoyed by the metaphysical musing), if a
little rushed at times. I do not know if Image put a cap on it for
economic reasons, or if Harris only had 100 pages of story, but the book
could have easily taken on another 20 pages without feeling ponderous.
Finally, there is the problem of too little and too much information.
Anyone lacking at least a passing familiarity with the Inklings, Waite,
and Crowley will be lost by much of what happens (or at least miss the
significance of much which is left unexplained); this deficit, however,
can be alleviated by a perusal of the 14 pages of annotations at the back.
Given this, there were one or two places where Harris seemed to fumble
with unnecessary exposition and background, resulting in occasionally
stilted dialogue. But overall, I thought the story flowed well and was
easy to follow. This is impressive given its numerous unexpected jumps in
time and space.
The thing that impressed me most, though, is how Harris captured the
Inkling spirit of a deeply Christian work. It was fun to read Tolkien,
Lewis, and Williams arguing back and forth about the nature of evil and
some of the more mystical elements of their philosophy. It was also
refreshing to encounter an author who treats the occult as something
real — but wrong — without falling into Satanic Panic
hysterics. Crowley’s astrology and magick are shown as fruitless, despite
his delusions to the contrary. The Cathar / Merovingian cult of Mary
Magdalene is handled intelligently without ever falling into the “what
if it IS true?” camp. And Satan’s war with the host of Heaven is portrayed
as a real, on-going struggle, but one in which Heaven’s victory is assured.
It didn’t surprise me to discover Harris is a preacher’s kid and a confessing
Christian. He spoke at the Cornerstone 2004 Imaginarium; I would love to
have heard some some of those sessions. I also recently learned he has a
new series coming out, Strange Passages, a ’30s-pulp style story about
a mystical detective. I wonder if he’ll manage to squeeze a pirate in.
One can only hope.