| Testament | |
| Schedule: | Monthly |
| Ongoing: | y |
| Publisher: | Vertigo |
| Date: | February 2006 – March 2008 |
| Issues: | 22 |
| Historical: | y |
| Scifi: | y |
| Myth: | y |
| Multigenre: | y |
| Writers: | Douglas Rushkoff |
| Pencillers: | Liam Sharp Peter Gross Dean Ormston |
| Inkers: | Liam Sharp Gary Erskine Dean Ormston Mark Pennington |
| Colorists: | Jamie Grant James Devlin |
| Letterers: | Jared K. Fletcher Todd Klein |
| Editors: | Pornsak Pichetshote Jonathan Vankin Bob Harras |
| Creators: | Douglas Rushkoff Liam Sharp |
| Tpb: | Akedah |
| Isbn: | 978-1-4012-1063-2 |
| Tpb1: | West of Eden |
| Isbn1: | 1-4012-1201-8 |
| Tpb2: | Babel |
| Isbn2: | 1-4012-1496-7 |
| Tpb3: | Exodus |
| Isbn3: | 1-4012-1811-3 |
| Subcat: | Vertigo |
| Sort: | Testament |
Testament is an American comic book series written by Douglas Rushkoff[1] [2] with art and covers by Liam Sharp.[3] [4] It was published from February 2006 to March 2008 under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.
The story takes place simultaneously in the near future and the biblical past to illustrate the most prominent theme: that history repeats itself. This is done by juxtaposing the two timelines, the purpose of which seems to be to illustrate that religion is a continually evolving, living story that is being written by how people, and specifically the protagonists, live their daily lives. Other themes include increasing numbers of fascist governments, human rights, technology, and information economics in the form of a global currency, manna.
In the near future grad student Jake Stern and his conscientious objector friends fight against the new RFID-based universal draft by attempting to access the collective unconscious through an experimental combination of the hallucinogenic preparation ayahuasca and shared sensory deprivation tank experiences. The near future story is mirrored through the history-repeats-itself idea as biblical narrative based on Torah, various Jewish and Christian apocrypha, and elements of other mythologies. One major departure from Judeo-Christian tradition in Testament is the separation of The One True God into two entities who in the story are represented by the God Elijah, who represents the Abrahamic One True God, and a new entity of the author's invention which he calls The One True God. Much of the action in the story is driven by situations and characters being manipulated by the various gods as they battle for dominion over existence.
There are two stories being told, one in the Biblical historical past, the other in the near future.
The series is being collected into a number of trade paperbacks:
| Title | ISBN | Release date | Collected material | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Testament: Akedah | July 26, 2006 | Testament #1–5 | ||
| 2 | Testament: West of Eden | January 17, 2007 | Testament #6–10 | ||
| 3 | Testament: Babel | November 7, 2007 | Testament #11–16 | ||
| 4 | Testament: Exodus | August 5, 2008 | Testament #17–22 |