“Crazy curmudgeons Batman! Higher Things is doing a piece on comic books. What does this mean?” “Don’t fear, Robin. All the forces of goodness and justice have to stick together in this world,” responded the dark knight.
E
ver since Superman made his 1938 debut in Action Comics #1, comic book superheroes have been a major feature in American pop culture. Consider movies and television, for instance. Comic book superheroes, old and new, have been translated to the big screen in such examples as: Superman, Batman, Daredevil, Punisher, Hulk, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, X-Men, Spiderman, and Hellboy. Most recently, I heard a vague rumor that the Fantastic Four movie will be released 295 days and 9 hours from the time I’m writing this article.
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 26
But even with all that eye-candy to look at on the screen, the good ol’ fashioned printed page is where it all began, and according to many fans, where it still works the best. For a long time, movie special effects were so primitive that two-dimensional illustrations were simply far more impressive. And though computer graphics have made almost anything possible on-screen, seeing real live human beings dressed in superhero costumes can brink on the edge of silliness. But on the printed page, it still works. While comic book superheroes come in a wide variety of forms, there are generalizations that could be made about them as a whole. Usually a pretty ordinary person acquires special abilities which leads him to fight crime, defend the weak, and just basically set wrongs right. The X-Men are human mutants with extraordinary powers such as being able to control the weather, pass through solid objects, sponta-
neously heal, read minds or transport from place to place instantaneously. Spiderman is just an ordinary teenager who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains spider-like abilities. He can scale smooth surfaces, possesses a heightened sense of danger, and has remarkable strength and agility. Batman has no superpowers. Instead he relies on his superior scientific knowledge, technology, physical strength and detective skills. Superman, a.k.a. the Man of Steel, a.k.a. Clark Kent, is the exception. He’s not an ordinary human being at all. In fact, he’s not a human being. He’s an alien from the planet Krypton who was sent here as an infant to escape his home planet’s destruction. Probably very few comic book writers are trying to convey any overtly Christian themes. In fact, a case could be made that they contain many elements which go counter to the Christian faith (i.e., bad language, graphic violence, titillating sexuality, rebellious attitudes, a fascination with the occult). There is some truth to that argument, but as is often the case, there is also something more. At the risk of
