The Infidel: Chapter One, by Bosch Fawstin. O’Ink Comics, February 20, 2011. 28 pp., $2.50, PDF download.
Bosch Fawstin’s serialized graphic novel The Infidel follows comic book artist Killian Duke and his creation Pigman, a superhero who is best described as a “Jihadist’s worst nightmare.”
Although Killian is of “Albanian Muslim Descent” (p. 14), he no longer holds any allegiance to Islam. In fact, with his creation of Pigman, in response to the atrocities of 9/11, Killian has become one of Islam’s most articulate enemies.1 When asked by a friend why, despite the danger involved, he pursues this line of work, Killian replies: “Because I love it. I love seeing this enemy get what it deserves at the hands of a ruthless hero. And since they’d kill me for no reason anyway, why not give them a good one?” (p. 13)
At the start of The Infidel, we are taken back to 9/11 where we see innocent Americans jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers, their only alternative being incineration. Pigman, having witnessed this atrocity, reflects:
Most will consider everything but the truth about what happened . . . In order to avoid thinking, saying and doing what is necessary. Within a day, the world will witness the most powerful man on the earth repeating the enemy’s big lie, “Islam means peace” . . . Which cripples our war effort from the start. Then I start thinking . . . And thinking . . . About all the terrible things that must be done . . . To those who had a good day on 9/11. (p. 7)
Killian, in an interview on “Ox News,” describes his creation as “[A]n ex-Muslim who decides to take the war into his own hands after seeing Washington’s pathetic response to 9/11” (p. 14). Pigman does not disappoint: in his world, the Islamists run for their lives as Pigman, with complete moral certitude, pursues and kills them. . . .