The imposition of an Illustrated Philosophy of History through time travels. The case of the Graphic novel "Pax Romana"

Abstract

In the present article we analyze the graphic novel Pax Romana (Jonathan Hickman 2007) as a representation of the positions of the philosophy of history of the Enlightenment. The predominant discourse of the majority of the characters and the plot, we argue, is comparable with the History´s conception of positivism and Marxism. We establish that, in this visionary piece of the ninth art, the illustrated philosophy of the history prevails over the Christian philosophy of history, even when great portion of the action thread lies on characters that represent the leadership of the Catholic Church. The miniseries finale evidences the triumph, through the time travels, of the objectives of the Enlightment; the propagation of Reason, science, Progress and well-being to the entire world. Amazingly, as the time travels are planned by the Vatican, it is left out the basic structure of the Christian philosophy of history; primarily, that the idea that the Kingdom of God will not be on Earth but in a metaphysical place in the End of Time.