Webcomic Wednesday: Talking to the Holy Ghost in My Bugatti by Meaghan “Moneyworth” Garvey

Strictly speaking, this week’s webcomic is not a comic, nor is it even on the web, unless you count its expired Etsy listing. But I’d be doing everyone a grave disservice if I didn’t draw your attention to the astounding collision of hip-hop/R&B iconography and conspiracy-theory/occult paranoia that is Talking to the Holy Ghost in My Bugatti. In these pages, artist/DJ/t-shirt maven Moneyworth (aka Meaghan Garvey) takes one of the odder urban legends of the past few years – the notion that some of music’s biggest superstars, including Beyoncé (above), Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Drake, are secretly members of the Illuminati, which can be deduced from coded lyrics and from symbolism in their videos and promo photos and signature hand gestures and whatnot – and runs as far as she can with it. Students of both the occult and contemporary urban radio, a Venn-diagram overlap in which I quite happily fall, will marvel at her ability to seamlessly blend selected lyrics and esoteric incantations, until you really do start to wonder if maybe Rick Ross is involved in Satanic ritual and world domination in between saying “WHUNN” a lot on his records. As a bonus, her black-and-white portraiture is convincingly ominous, and her hand lettering is ornate and exquisite. The eye is in the pyramid and the Roc is in the building, my friends. Bow down.