I've been waiting for a "Sinfest" to come along that (first criterion) was worthy of being named CSOTD and (second criterion) would be comprehensible to newcomers and (finally) wouldn't offend people who had not before come across this Manichean delight.
There have been many, many that satisfied the first criterion. This is a brilliantly conceived and illustrated web comic, often among the best of the day.
The other two criteria, hmm, a bit problematic. Cartoonist Tatsuya Ishida could make explaining Sinfest a lot easier if he would (a) spoof religion instead of reflecting upon it and (b) choose either Western or Eastern religion and stick to it. (He's Japanese-American and apparently not conflicted by having more than one culture to draw upon.)
Sinfest is a daily reflection on the nature of humankind and on humankind's relation to the eternal, which somehow doesn't sound like a comic strip you'd want to visit every day. It kind of sounds like homework.
But, no, the strip has a dark and earthy sense of humor and a gentle Eastern style of exposing without preaching, rarely as direct as a parable from Jesus, with a specific and intended "lesson" to be drawn, but more gently and indirect, like a zen master or Confucius, proposing a story that contains the potential for reflection but never directly explains itself or demands to know if you have learned its one-and-only lesson. The story, rather, is simply offered, like a small rose.
And like most simple things, the explanation would be troublesome, tedious and, yes, very much like homework. I would suggest you simply bookmark the strip and let it come to you over time, but, if you want to know more, the Wikipedia article does explain it.
It's a bit like explaining a rose, however. Explaining what it is doesn't explain what it does, or what it means, or how you should feel about it.
For instance, here's what you need to know about today's strip and I think you'll see that you didn't really need to know it after all.
There are two devil girls. Fuchsia has been corrupted and is no longer dedicated to the mission of administering eternal torment. Quite the opposite. By contrast, Baby Blue is relentlessly on topic, and today, we are given an insight into Baby Blue and what makes her so loyal to the party line.
And if you want to apply it to yourself or to others you encounter, you may. Or not. Your choice. It's only a cartoon, after all.
But it's certainly a cartoon worth visiting again tomorrow.
I've been a long time fan of SINFEST. You analysis is spot on.
Posted by: buzz | 02/27/2011 at 05:50 PM
Sinfest.net seems to be down this morning, doubtless due to the overwhelming traffic sent there by your endorsement yesterday. Will "Petersoned" replace "slashdotted" to describe this phenomemon?
Posted by: Mark Jackson | 02/28/2011 at 10:16 AM
Alternatively, will "Jacksoned" replace "misspelled" to describe what I did above to "phenomenon"?
Posted by: Mark Jackson | 02/28/2011 at 12:00 PM
No, the term is "Capris-ed," as in "Phenomemonon danga-danga-dang ding-a-dong-ding, Blue Moon."
Please note that proper usage is simply the word "Capris-ed." It is incorrect to say that something is "Capris-ed of ... "
Posted by: Mike | 03/01/2011 at 06:27 AM