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ARTICLE
Book Review: Holy Superheroes!: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels, and Film (Revised and Expanded Edition)
by R.J. Carter Published: March 17, 2008
Publication Date: January 17, 2008 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Author: · Greg Garrett Grade: A-
I've been a comics readers since before I entered the first grade -- which is close enough to saying "all my life" without it really being hyperbole. And while my fundamentalist parents weren't particularly thrilled with what they thought the message in the comics was, and discouraged the hobby, I nonetheless ended up with stacks upon stacks of four-color superhero adventures. And, as it turned out, I was getting more than my fair share of religion in the process.
Comparisons drawn from comics to religion -- Christian or otherwise -- are a relatively new emerging trend, brought about no doubt by the popularity of comics in the film industry. Since the burgeoning awareness of comics characters in the mass media, we've seen H. Micheal Brewer expound on the sacred values that can be found in the actions of various super characters in his Who Needs a Superhero?. We've also seen Christopher Knowles give a more mythic spin on the caped heroes, indicating that, while they may reflect Christian values to Christians, their roots run to deeper, to more ancient religions, in his recently published Our Gods Wear Spandex.
One of the earlier books to capitalize on this revelation was Greg Garret's Holy Superheroes: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels and Film. Whereas Brewer uses the individual characters to illustrate the Biblical concepts they exhibit, Garret -- a Professor of English at Baylor University and writer in residence at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest -- is more of a "big picture" guy, concentrating on the themes of justice, retribution, and the problem of evil -- even devoting chapters to the Beast (the Revelations one, but the X-Men one certainly figures in), the Apocalypse (with references to both the DC Apokalips and the Marvel villain), and the Holocaust, and how they impact storylines of the comics.
"Two Christian traditions tend to dominate the field," says Garrett. "Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism -- particularly evangelical fundamentalism. Daredevil, Hellboy, X-Men, Union Jack, and other comics use liturgy, Catholic and Anglo-Catholic iconic architecture and symbol, and trappings such as saints and relics as part of storylines, characterization, and imagery. And comics frequently employ Christian fundamentalism as an antagonist, as in the X-Men graphic novel, God Loves, Man Kills. Interestingly, I'd propose that many of our most famous heroes are mainstream Protestants -- depicted with the same kind of faith lives as devout characters like Catholics Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and Nightcrawler (X-Men)."
However, there's quite a bit of Judaism and other religions that Garrett makes reference of, as Garrett kicks off the book with a scene from a 2002 issue of Fantastic Four:
In this story, a character known as "The Thing" -- a test pilot named Ben Grimm, who back in 1961 (in our time) was changed by cosmic rays into a superpowerful sentient pile of orange rocks -- stands over an injured old man in his neighborhood, and is sick at heart that with all his power there is nothing he can do for him.
Then he realizes: "No... No, there is one thing."
And then, Ben Grimm, idol of millions, one of the most powerful of superheroes, drops to his knees and begins praying in Hebrew: "Sh'ma yisrael adonai! Eloheinu adonat echad... Uhm... baruch shem k'vod malchuto l'olam va'ed." A comic book superhero, davening!
The Thing was, after thousands of apearances, revealed to readers as a person of faith. Well. And it only took forty years to tell us. But there was more than just this one poignant revelation. The old man, Mr. Sheckerberg, revived, actually engages Grimm in a discussion about faith: "All these years in the news, they never mention you're Jewish. I thought maybe you were ashamed of it a little?"
To which Grimm, standing in shadows, but with a streetlight over his head bearing witness to his illumination, replies, "Nah... anyone on the Internet can figure it out, if they want. It's just... I don't talk it up is all. Figure there's enough trouble in the world without people thinkin' Jews are all monsters like me."
In reply, Sheckerberg reminds Ben Grimm of the Jewish legend of the Golem: "He was a being made of clay -- but he wasn't a monster. He was a protector." Like you, is his point, and perhaps further, he means to say that in some ways Ben Grimm too is a servant of the Holy.
As Garrett mulls over the problem of evil, he draws attention to Gotham City -- a place that architecturally represents Hell on Earth if any fictitious city does. He also points out that often evil looks like normal, directing us to Max Allan Collins's Road to Perdition and it's religious hitman protagonist, Michael O'Sullivan. Even the heroes in the primary colors can fall victim to committing evil in this day and age.
Comics are full of sinful beings, people who have many good qualities yet who do evil, just as the world is full of them. The act of taking the law into your own hands, as we'll see in the next chapter, can force even heroes to carry out rough justice, and if something as basic to our understanding of comic book heroes can be so morally ambiguous, you can guess that lots of other heroes have erred in more meaningful ways. From Hank Pym/Giant-Man beating his wife to Avenger Carol Danvers showing up for work drunk to Green Lantern committing cosmic catastrophe under the influence of the villain Parallax to heroes on both sides of Marvel's "Civil War" teaming up with supervillains who happen to support their position on the Superhero Registration Act, plenty of our heroes have perpetrated evil.
As you can see, the expanded version of Garrett's theological odyssey has been updated to include some of the most recent comic book events. But if you're going into this expecting to breeze through it like a 22 page adventure, be forewarned: this is heady stuff that requires you to actually stop, think, and digest the information being presented. Come to think of it, so are the comics themselves today. "I grew up reading comics," says Garrett, "and I feel they were important in reinforcing many of the beliefs I have today. I'm a better person for having read stories about integrity, mercy, and a sense of justice. That said, comics have changed in the last decades -- many of them are not intended for children, and they're rated like movies for that reason. The more complex and ambiguous characters -- Wolverine, the Punisher, John Constantine, the Authority, maybe even Batman -- should be reserved for teens. And kids and adults alike probably need help discerning the positive and negative messages in comics. That's one of the reasons I wrote Holy Superheroes -- to foreground what it is we're learning when we consume superhero stories in comics, on TV, or in the movies."
Holy Superheroes! is an academic foray of the first order into the universe of comic books. And, like most academic forays, it can come off in places as being a bit dry. But, as Bill Cosby used to say when introducing the Fat Albert cartoons, "If you're not careful, you might just learn something." That's certainly the case with this book -- at the very least, you'll be armed with a defense of the hobby that will impress detractors (and parents, although they're not mutually exclusive) with your knowledge.
