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dick_grayson_1

Posts: 11
From: your mother's bed
Registered: 4/24/06

Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 24, 2006 10:31 PM

does anyone know if there are any DC Comics characters who are portrayed as being Christian or Catholic in religion?

generalzod33

Posts: 1,376
From: Sacramento, Ca.
Registered: 10/31/04

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 24, 2006 10:50 PM

Isn't Nightwing christian? Huntress used to be catholic. Spectre was non-denominational. There were some muslim and Jewish characters introduced in Suicide Squad a million years ago. They're around. I've usually only seen religion in comics when a character is conflicted and needs advice.

brokenbatfan

Posts: 2,213
Registered: 11/6/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 1:34 AM

Despite that many people believe Superman is jewish because of the curl in his hair (:sighs: people actually say this), Superman has been seen with a christmas tree in the Kent household (someone mentioned the issue number on this board but I can't remember things like that0.

I am not sure what religion he is, and I think DC has tried to stay away from flat out saying his religion. But I am pretty sure he celebrates christmas.

It's clear to me Bruce Wayne is more or less an athiest.

Azreal is a psycho who really believes in some demented form of something.

I remember seeing female character praying or something once in a pretty catholic/gothic looking chapel. I was flipping through the comic but can't remember which one I was reading... I think it was stephanie brown? don't quote me on this please because I can't remember who it was, I just remember the picture very vividly.

There was some doctor in a JLA issue a while back whom was a devout muslim, wasn't she? I'm pretty sure it was islam there... Turned out she was some middle eastern superhero granted power through her faith. That character lasted three issues before being shelved quick like.

hrm...... who else......

Deadpool believes in something but not a subscriber to a specific religion. He's seen the afterlife and basically told he will never be a resident (remain dead).

Someone worships the god Shiva. It isn't Shiva is it?

My memory feels like swiss cheese now. Can someone fill in these blanks?

regularguy

Posts: 5,897
Registered: 12/19/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 4:22 AM

There was another thread running hot on this topic not too long ago, where someone linked to:

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html

. . . which seems pretty accurate.

They don't, though, list the following:

There was some doctor in a JLA issue a while back whom was a devout muslim, wasn't she? I'm pretty sure it was islam there... Turned out she was some middle eastern superhero granted power through her faith. That character lasted three issues before being shelved quick like.

The Janissary, who'd found the fabled scimitar of Suleiman the Magnificent (a sword enchanted by Merlin in the East as he had Excalibur in the West) and who also found Merlin's spellbook resting beside it. Anyhow, yeah, she was a Turkish woman who'd studied medicine in America and then returned home to save lives for the Red Crescent; she took Islam quite seriously, had a little crush on Aquaman, and sure enough hasn't been much seen since.

dragonbat

Posts: 2,796
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: 11/14/04

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 4:28 AM

I've heard that Bruce Wayne is a lapsed Catholic (i.e. reared that way but lost his faith when his parents died.)

I heard that Dixon meant for Tim Drake to be Jewish, but it was never stated. However, if you look at one of Tim's earlier appearances (Batman 484?), his mother's grave was vandalized. Someone painted swastikas on it. Now since, to my mind, 'Drake' is not a Jewish surname (unless it got changed from 'Drucker' or something), we're left with two equally valid possibilities.

....Aaaaand regularguy beats me to the punch!

1) The vandals used the symbol for shock value. No racist/antisemtic, etc. intention--they were just too ignorant of the connotations or didn't care, or

2) Tim Drake's mother is buried in a Jewish cemetary.

(BTW, according to traditional Judaism, and I believe Christianity as well, the child's religion is determined on the mother's faith. So even if Jack Drake wasn't, Tim is if is mother was.)

Huntress is Catholic.

Manitou Dawn likely follows her people's traditions.

Atom Smasher is Jewish (So am I. That's why I kinda keep track.)

Anyway, this link will probably help more than my memory...

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html

Message was edited by: dragonbat

jaylayson

Posts: 844
From: Columbus, OH USA
Registered: 2/14/06

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 4:50 AM

> There was another thread running hot on this topic
> not too long ago, where someone linked to:
>
> http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religio
> n.html
>
> . . . which seems pretty accurate.
>

Nice link.

In Infinet Crisis 6 many characters were at a Catolic Services in the begining of the issue. Ragman stated he was Jewish and Mr. Teriffic stated he didn't believe in God.

regularguy

Posts: 5,897
Registered: 12/19/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 4:59 AM

I heard that Dixon meant for Tim Drake to be Jewish, but it was never stated.

Slight hijack, but it's my understanding that Moon Knight's creators didn't intend for their character to be Jewish. They had the idea pretty much ready to go, except they needed a cool name for his secret identity; they thought of a guy they knew and realized, damn, "Marc Spector" sounds terrific. I mean, that's a great name. It's practically a superhero name by itself.

Years go by, the character gets his own title, they bump into the real Marc Spector -- and they ask him, hey, what kind of a name is 'Spector', anyway?

Uh, it's Jewish, he says.

Whoops, they think; we've never had our hero so much as mention it, which would be odd. They're intrigued, think it over, and decide, okay, how about if he's a non-practicing Jew who had a falling out with his disappointed rabbi father and really doesn't like to talk about it?

And thus, by accident, becomes the first Jewish superhero, IIRC.

jimjacksonjim

Posts: 1,054
Registered: 6/2/05

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 7:13 AM

I believe Nightcrawler is openly Catholic.

And Colossal Boy (now Micro Lad) in the Legion has been portrayed as Jewish since at least the early 1980s.

knightfire5

Posts: 182
From: In the fire
Registered: 1/13/06

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 7:30 AM

Up until the last issue of IC, religion was avoided like the plague by writers, but now it seems they have taken a "holistic" approach to religion. In the DCU, with characters like Zauriel and the Spectre running around, I'm pretty sure the Judeo-Christian God is shown to be the creator God, but I think that the gods of mythology and other metaphysical beings also have power.

Personnally, I try to live my life as close to being like Jesus Christ as I can. I believe He is set apart from all other deities or religious figures and that His message has real power. I guess that makes me a Christian. I'm hesitant to identify with that title sometimes because of the negative things people have done in the name of Christ (the Crusades are a glaring example of missing the point.) I don't agree with how the republicans seem to use God as a platform, or how most evangelicals buy their ploys.

I think an "unitarian approach" in comics is okay (after all, they are just fictional stories) as long as a sense of right and wrong is presented and moral relativism isn't the prevailing philosophy.

Peace.

Message was edited by: knightfire5

gothamite

Posts: 4,089
Registered: 7/3/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 7:44 AM

There are many gods in the DCU. They are all roughly equivalent.

Basically, all faiths are true so long as somebody believes in them.

jaylayson

Posts: 844
From: Columbus, OH USA
Registered: 2/14/06

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 12:55 PM

I know one of the characters from Relative Heroes mentioned she was Wiccan.

brokenbatfan

Posts: 2,213
Registered: 11/6/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 1:28 PM

> There was another thread running hot on this topic
> not too long ago, where someone linked to:
>
> http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religio
> n.html
>
> . . . which seems pretty accurate.
>
> They don't, though, list the following:
>
> There was some doctor in a JLA issue a while back
> whom was a devout muslim, wasn't she? I'm pretty sure
> it was islam there... Turned out she was some middle
> eastern superhero granted power through her faith.
> That character lasted three issues before being
> shelved quick like.
>
> The Janissary, who'd found the fabled scimitar of
> Suleiman the Magnificent (a sword enchanted by Merlin
> in the East as he had Excalibur in the West) and who
> also found Merlin's spellbook resting beside it.
> Anyhow, yeah, she was a Turkish woman who'd studied
> d medicine in America and then returned home to save
> lives for the Red Crescent; she took Islam quite
> seriously, had a little crush on Aquaman, and sure
> enough hasn't been much seen since.

Thank you!

orvillethird

Posts: 2,067
From: Greenville, SC
Registered: 2/19/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 2:06 PM

I do know Superman mentioned his pastor in his "epigraph" to the story with him and Diana fighting in Asgard.

And some characters' religion varies from writer to writer. Zatanna attended a Christian worship service in Brave & Bold 169. (The denomination is unknown...but it did involve a faith healer...who Zatanna believed was genuine. Go read the story). In JLofA 176, Zee praised Buddhism. In Zatanna:Come Together, Zee was depicted as a practicing Dianic Wiccan! (Of course, as Zee said in JLofA 246, "Any belief too tightly held will destroy the believer. Even a belief in magic.")

dick_grayson_1

Posts: 11
From: your mother's bed
Registered: 4/24/06

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 3:59 PM

is the http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html website very accurate on the characters' religious beliefs?

deepgreen

Posts: 253
Registered: 7/17/03

Re: Religion in comic books
Posted: Apr 25, 2006 9:01 PM

Doc Mid-Nite is Catholic. Kevin Smith turned Connor Hawk into a sorda kinda Catholic. Ben Grimm is Jewish ( according to a story written by Johns). Somebody has prob already mentioned Nightcrawler's Christian creed (think he's Catholic). An interesting question: are these creeds written into cannon, or are writers free to do what they will with characters and religion?


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