Holy superheroes! Baylor prof explores spirituality of comics_61305
Posted: 6/10/05
Holy superheroes! Baylor prof
explores spirituality of comics
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
An orange, rock-like behemoth called “the Thing” drops to his knees on a New York City street and voices a Jewish prayer. A blind lawyer-by-day, superhero-by-night in Hell's Kitch-en enters a confessional to acknowledge his sins.
| Baylor University Professor Greg Garrett explores the spiritual foundation of comic book superheroes such as the Fantastic Four, pictured in this poster for an upcoming summer movie. (Poster courtesy of Fantasticfourmovie.com/20th Century Fox) |
These comic book scenes from the Fantastic Four and Daredevil represent the “transparently religious” side of the superhero universe, said author Greg Garrett, professor of English at Baylor University.
But he also sees a spiritual underpinning for comics in less religiously explicit comics.
Themes of justice, mercy, the proper use of power and the restraint of evil have permeated superhero comics since Superman first took flight in 1938, Garrett noted. He explores the spiritual foundations of comic books in Holy Superheroes, recently released by NavPress.
Garrett acknowledges he has been a comics fan since around age 10, but he first “got a little bit of the comic book mythology” when he and Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia in Houston, worked together on The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in the Matrix.
As they examined spiritual implications of the science fiction trilogy, Garrett encountered cultural observers who compared the movie characters to superheroes like Superman and Batman.
At the same time, Garrett and Seay linked the Matrix characters to biblical themes of judgment and redemption through a messiah–“the idea of somebody who comes out of nowhere with special powers” to deliver powerless people from the forces of evil.
Superman presents a Christ-like figure who was sent by his father to Earth and who uses his “God-given abilities to protect us without regard for self,” Garrett noted. Batman dispenses Old Testament-style justice to evildoers. And Spider-Man wrestles with the great responsibility that comes with great power.
Garrett made the connection between comics and spirituality. Then he began to connect those observations to society in general.
“Justice in comics almost always is retributive, and that's the operating mythology of Western culture, particularly in America,” he observed.
At the same time, comic book creators also demonstrate concern for social justice. Superhero stories about the evils of racism, the horror of war and the plight of the poor became trendy in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but stories about systemic evil and social injustice emerged early in the history of comics.
“The early Superman stories were hardly recognizable. He was as likely to take on a slum lord as a super-villain,” Garrett said.
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Writers and illustrators of early superhero comic books–many of them first-generation immigrant Jews in New York City who had firsthand knowledge of what it meant to be a poor minority in urban America–presented superheroes as defenders of the weak, “particularly against corrupt systems,” he noted.
In the last 20 years, Garrett points out, some “dark vigilantes” emerged in comic books. Characters like Wolverine and the Punisher “broke the superhero code: Don't kill,” he noted.
“But even negative examples can be powerful spiritual examples for us. Even when they are violent and seemingly amoral, clear moral lessons are being drawn.”
Garrett hopes his book will attract both Christian and secular readers, just as his earlier work with Seay on the Matrix films did. And he hopes it will prompt them to ask hard questions about virtues and vices, personal ethics and social justice.
“What can we learn to help us live more virtuous lives?” he asks. “We don't have superpowers, but what is the responsibility of America as an economic power? What can help us decide how to use power selflessly?”
Those kinds of questions resonate best with the young generation Garrett encounters in the classroom when they are cloaked in familiar pop culture references, he observed.
“They come to popular culture for spiritual content, not to the church. They may not attend a Bible study, but they will get on a blog and tell everybody what they take away from Sin City,” Garrett said.
“Let's find the spiritual where we can and develop discernment about what to take away from popular culture and what not to emulate.”