A graphic history of religious cults in American from the colonial era to today From its earliest days, America has been home to spiritual seekers. In 1694, the religious tolerance of the Pennsylvania Colony enticed a Transylvanian monk and his forty followers to cross the Atlantic. Almost two hundred years later, a charismatic preacher founded a utopian community in Oneida, New York, that practiced socialism and free love. In the 1960s and ’70s, a new generation of seekers gathered in vegetarian restaurants in Los Angeles, Satanic coffee shops in New Orleans, and fortified communes in Philadelphia. And in the twenty-first century, gurus use self-help seminars and get-rich-quick schemes to evangelize to their flocks. Across the decades, Americans in search of divine truths have turned to unconventional prophets for the answers. Some of these prophets have demanded their faith, fortunes, and even their very lives. In American Cult, over twenty cartoonists explore the history of these groups with clarity and empathy—looking beyond the scandalous headlines to find the human stories within. Featuring the talents of Lara Antal, Brian “Box” Brown, Ryan Carey, Rosa Colón Guerra, Mike Dawson, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg, Mike Freiheit, Emi Gennis, Andrew Greenstone, Janet Harvey, Josh Kramer, Jesse Lambert, Ellen Lindner, Lonnie Mann, Ben Passmore, Jim Rugg, Robert Sergel, Vreni Stollberger, Steve Teare, and J.T. Yost.
Authors
I grew up doodling in class and reading comics outside of class. Though I always knew I loved drawing, I didn’t realize how much I liked telling stories (and that I could combine those two passions) until I went back to school for a while at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. My new full-length graphic novel about growing up gay and Orthodox Jewish, "Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood", will be released February 6, 2024 from Street Noise Books! Please consider pre-ordering it at your local comic shop / bookstore, online, and/or requesting it at your local library! You can follow me on all the socials @LonnieComics.
J.T. Yost founded Birdcage Bottom Books in 2009 after receiving a Xeric Award, a grant for self-publishing. Birdcage Bottom Books has published over 70 comics and graphic novels. His work has been published by NBM Graphic Novels, Three Rivers Press, Vice Magazine, Silver Sprocket, Kilgore Books, Hic & Hoc Publications, and the Arthritis Foundation.
Robert Sergel (b.1982) is a cartoonist, illustrator & graphic designer currently residing in Cambridge, MA. He draws the Ignatz-nominated comic series Eschew, a Best American Comics selection. SPACE: An Eschew Collection was published by Secret Acres and counted on Paste Magazine's best comics of the year. Bald Knobber is his first novel length comic.
Jim Rugg is an Eisner and Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist based in Pittsburgh. His books include STREET ANGEL, The PLAIN Janes, The Guild, Afrodisiac, and Notebook Drawings. Awards and recognition from the Society of Illustrators, AIGA, Communication Arts, Print magazine, American Illustration, SPX, and Creative Quarterly adorn his mantle. His studio is pencils, paper, ballpoint pens, ink, Photoshop, cats, and comics.
