New online reading group: 'Testament'

[Bobby Campbell has announced a planned new online reading group, for the comic book series TESTAMENT, to be hosted at Apuleius Charlton's Jechidah blog. Here is Bobby's announcement. The Management.]

By BOBBY CAMPBELL
Special guest blogger

I'm very excited to announce the formation of a monthly reading group based around the Douglas Rushkoff & Liam Sharp created comic book series TESTAMENT!

TESTAMENT was published as a monthly series by DC Comics, under the prestigious Vertigo imprint, from 2006 - 2008. It ran for 22 issues and was then collected into four trade paperbacks. It was also collected into a digital omnibus (which I designed!), and I’m told efforts are currently underway for a deluxe print edition, coming in 2026 :)))

Why should we read TESTAMENT?

“A stunning, richly entertaining book.”

-- Robert Anton Wilson

“Rushkoff and Sharp unveil the new voice of dissent. Make no mistake, the greatest story ever told continues right here!”

-- Grant Morrison

For starters I'd like to point you to Douglas Rushkoff's introduction to the series, which gives you a sense of the monumental scale they were working on for this comic.

The story of TESTAMENT takes place simultaneously in the biblical past and a near future that, 20 years later, looks suspiciously similar to our present.

This is a book about the open source nature of reality, about participatory myth-making, about resistance to inhuman systems, and about discovering our collective agency.

Useful things to think about anytime, but perhaps especially in these particular times.

Also, there's absolutely astonishing art, by one of the all-time greats, LIAM SHARP!!

Both Douglas Rushkoff & Liam Sharp have these wildly brilliant and expansive oeuvres, between them there are dozens of titles worthy of our time and attention, but I maintain that something special happened here where their two styles met and combined into something uniquely explosive. A lost classic of the Vertigo canon, waiting to be discovered!

A quick word of warning! TESTAMENT is often very NSFW. There’s a fair amount of nudity, sex, violence, and other such adult situations. Frankly, it’s kinda fucked up! (Complementary.)

Additionally, many other artists contributed significantly to the series! But this being an intro I figured we'd stick to the original creators for now, but rest assured all contributors will be given their flowers! Peter Gross, Dean Ormston, Gary Erskine, Mark Pennington, Jamie Grant, James Devlin, Jared K. Fletcher, Todd Klein, Pornsak Pichetshote, Jonathan Vankin, and Bob Harris.

THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE

An ulterior motive I have is the promotion of the comic book medium! I know how wildly intelligent and insightful this group is, and I thought it would be fun to see what you all would discover within some especially well-crafted esoteric sequential art :)))

Comix are slowly, but surely, emerging from their spandex-covered super-powered chrysalis, and waiting to be discovered as a richly rewarding medium for stories of every type.

A good companion piece for this series would be Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. Intentionally named to mirror Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media, and packed full of those same paradigm shifting epiphanies.

Here's Rushkoff and McCloud in conversation from 2008: 

   

FREE AS IN BEER

I thought it would be bad manners to ask for both your time and your money, so I got permission from Rushkoff & Sharp, who very generously agreed, to provide the source material free of charge!

On the 22nd of each month for the next 22 months, I will post a free web version of the original single issue TESTAMENT comics.

I created a neocities site to host the monthly source material updates: https://testament-reading-group.neocities.org/

If you would like to read ahead there are several inexpensive options to do so!

Testament Digital Omnibus

Testament Trade Paperbacks (Cheap used editions!)

(Though I've been asked to warn you that there is indeed that deluxe edition coming in 2026, so budget your purchases accordingly!)

Retail news: New 'Tales' online shop, cheap ebooks

Bobby Campbell's latest Tales of Illuminatus newsletter has lots of news and interesting bits that I'll be highlighting, but here is one item I'd like to highlight: A new online shop that will reduce the costs for European readers of getting copies of the comic book: 

"I'm happy to announce that we've opened a second front in our campaign to illuminate the world!

"Nick H-L has opened an Etsy shop where our friends in the UK & EU can order print copies of Tales of Illuminatus! with much more reasonable shipping costs :)))

"Available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IlluminatusEuropa

"This also applies to our KS [Kickstarter] orders this time around. EU readers should notice a drastic reduction in shipping costs!

"Also, for various reasons, it might turn out to be a good idea to be able to print and ship comics outside of the United States."

The Kickstarter for the second issue already has met its goal but more orders would be useful, please see the newsletter for details. 

Also, I have noticed some cheap ebooks this month on Amazon in the U.S. that might be of interest.

I Have America Surrounded: The Life of Timothy Leary by John Higgs is only $3.  Also, Jesse Walker's The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory also is on sale for $3. 

New writing from Apuleius Charlton

 The Jechidah blog has posted a flurry a new writing.

"Ethics for Aliens" is a kind of magickal autobiography. 

"Either way, magic is full of indignities, it is a parade of hunchbacks and soldiers, the crew that never rest. Sometimes, it is heartwarming in its absurdity. I went so far into my lifestyle fantasy that, at one point, between hauling in the cardboard boxes of Crowley, Wilson, Moore, Blake and sundry, I complained to my father that the second bedroom of my new apartment was too small. Knowing of my proclivity at the time to keep my second bedroom as a ritual space, he responded: 'guess you’ll have to sacrifice smaller cats.'  Do what thou wilt."

There are also two new entries at Jechidah for the ongoing Sex Magicians reading group, for Chapter 13 and for Chapter 14. 

New Thomas Pynchon novel to be published

Pyncbon's most famous novel; there's no cover reveal yet for the new book. 

As there is a lot of overlap between Pynchon fans and RAW fans, I thought I would share the news that the 87-year-old author is about to publish a new novel. Shadow Ticket will be out in October. It will be his first novel since 2013's Bleeding Edge. 

Here is the blurb and other details from the publisher.  The New York Times says it has confirmed with the publisher that the blurb was written by Pynchon himself. 

A suggestion from Bryan Caplan

 

Bryan Caplan, in a photo taken last year. (Source). 

History has more than enough inventors, businessmen, scientists, intellectuals, and philanthropists with zero blood on their hands to name every building, school, park, and theater in the world.  

There's no need to name *anything* after politicians of any stripe - as if they don't already receive far more honor than they deserve while they're alive.

                                                                                                             -- Bryan Caplan. (Source) 

One of Professor Caplan's books is How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery. 

My podcast interview with Dr. Caplan remains available. 

Grant McPhee on 'Yellow Submarine'

The "My Favourite Beatles Song" podcast focuses on a particular tune in each episode, and the latest, on "Yellow Submarine," features Scottish filmmaker Grant McPhee. McPhee is a Scottish filmmaker working on a documentary about the Liverpool counterculture. "Yellow Submarine" of course is the song that inspired Hagbad Celine's submarine in Illuminatus!

The podcast host is Tim Tucker, and the blurb for the show says, "Tim chats with film director and writer Grant McPhee about the Beatles song Yellow Submarine. They talk about the song’s fun sound, its strange mix of ideas, and the way it has grown into a song for all ages."

Bavarian Illuminati stationary

Back in February, Grouchogandhi, K.S.P. posted (on X.com) what he described as "Various Discordian letterheads designed by Harold Lord Randomfactor (of ILLUMINATUS! fame) used in Operation Jake, wherein selected politicians received weird letters on weirder letterhead, circa 1970." (See this post in February for background on Harold Lord Randomfactor, etc.)

I was particularly taken with the Bavarian Illuminati letterhead and asked if there was a separate, higher resolution example available for it. Grouchogandhi promised to look and has now posted what he found, see above. Not sure about the resolution, but I will try to see if I can turn it into stationary for letters and emails.

Grouchogandhi's caption for the above on X is, "Your very own Discordian Bavarian Illuminati Letterhead! Download, share, write your Congresscritter, or hold it in your hands while you agitate loudly on street corners! Brought to you by the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria (AISB).

"Courtesy of the Discordian Archives."

Cthulhu commentary

 

Source.

What I read last month

I was concentrating last month on novels nominated for the Prometheus Award, as I am one of the judges on the nominating committee. 

Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky. A science fiction novel about a prison colony on a mysterious alien planet. Every creature in the planet exists in a state of symbiosis with another creature, and they are constantly combining and recombining. A fascinating premise.

Beggar's Sky, Wil McCarthy. An unusual first contact novel, quite well done. I had not read Wil McCarthy until a couple of years ago, but it appears I missed a good writer. 

The Glass Box, J. Michael Straczynski. Political prisoners kept inside a mental hospital. Kind of reminiscent of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 

Epicurus and His Influence on History, Ben Gazur. I believe I've mentioned my interest in Epicureanism. This one focuses on the reception of the philosophy across centuries. Not the best introduction to the philosophy itself, but it covers the history of it nicely. 

Moby Dick, Herman Melville. I was glad to re-read it, and I appreciated everyone's comments in the reading group. 

The Wobblies in Illuminatus

Chicago poet and anarchist Franklin Rosemont, one of the inspirations for the character Simon Moon in Illuminatus!

Jesse Walker sends me this quote from the book Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture by Chicago writer Franklin Rosemont: 

See also my 2014 interview with Neil Rest, the "real Simon Moon," which has this bit:

Did you know "Wobbly Surrealist" Franklin Rosemont very well? Can you talk about how he provided some of the inspiration for the "Simon Moon" character in Illuminatus! ?

Nope.  Didn't know him.  When I saw Bob Wilson, probably later in the summer of '76, I diffidently stoked my ego by saying that I recognized a lot of people in Illuminatus! but not myself.  He  replied, "Simon Moon is a composite."  I'm not sure when, but I eventually found out it was himself, Franklin Rosemont, and me.

New 'Tales' Kickstarter meets goal

From Bobby's Substack.

Last year's Kickstarter campaign for the first Tales of Illuminatus comic book was an exciting affair featuring a struggle to meet the goal. (Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing fundraising site, if you don't meet the goal, the campaign fails.)

This year Bobby Campbell set a more modest goal for this year's planned second issue, $777, and it has already been met! As I write, late Thursday morning, $871 has been pledged. (I turned in my pledge Tuesday, shortly after spotting Bobby's campaign announcement on Substack and social media).

Of course, as many orders are possible are still desirable. Let's support the project! But congratulations to Bobby for meeting the goal so quickly. Much of that has to be people who bought the first comic book and were happy with what they got for their money.

'Tales of Illuminatus #2' Kickstarter launches

 

The Kickstarter has begun for Tales of Illuminatus #2, the new comic book adaptation for Illuminatus! Here is the announcement from Bobby Campbell.  And also here is the Kickstarter page for the project.

"A CAVALCADE OF NEW CHARACTERS JOIN THE CAST! Simon Moon, Mary Lou Servix, Hagbard Celine, F.U.C.K.U.P., Harry Coin, John Dillinger, Dutch Schulz, Dr. Charles Mocenigo, Robert Pearson, Fission Chips, and so many more!" Bobby writes.

"We are running an extended Kickstarter campaign this time around, running from April 1st through May 31st, and will take late orders up until we go to press...

"TOI #2 will go to press in Summer 2025, and begin shipping world wide immediately thereafter, with digital editions sent out that same day :)))

"Our goal is to ship in Early Summer, Mid Summer is probably more likely, and Late Summer is the worst case scenario."

Please visit the links for more information. 

Recommendation for edition of 'Ulysses'

 

Aaron Gwyn on X: "The Gabler ULYSSES was the first edition I read. It’s not my favorite, though. When I taught an undergraduate ULYSSES seminar a few years back, I used the 1934/1961 Corrected Text that Modern Library puts out. This is the edition I recommend."

Many of the people who read this blog are big Joyce fans; is there a consensus on this?