Comic Book Religion: Which is your favorite?

ArmenianJohn said:

Spire Comics - Cross and the Switchblade, Corrie Ten Boom, God's Smuggler, and all the Christian Archie comics they produced... I loved these all when I was a kid. I'm an adult now so I don't read comics anymore.

http://www.christianknightcomics.com/downloads1.htm

Click to expand...

Rhamiel said:

Dr.Doom is so good when written well
him and the Joker are like the complete opposites of the super villain spectrum

I remember the comic with Dr. Doom going through the arch way of purity and the panther god, I actually used that example of explaining Dr. Doom to someone

Click to expand...

Rhamiel said:

I was just talking about Dr. Doom and how in his mind he is THE HERO!

He really thinks he is the best thing for this planet

I said that he was even able to get through a gate guarded by a national god so he could steal magic metal because the pagan god knew that he believed he was right

then I said how like in the 1980's and early 1990's Dr.Doom was like, the guy in every comic, like if it is a slow week Dr. Doom just shows up and ruins your stuff, and you kinda win..... but you kinda don't win, I remember a comic from the early 1990's where a jewel thief stole something from Dr. Doom and Dr. Doom just wipes the floor with Spider-Man... and then recently we had Ant-Man beat up Dr. Doom..... uhg, that should never happen
lol sorry, geek rant over

Click to expand...

​

Zoness said:

Honestly I have this issue too; I'm a big fan of internally consistent canon (thanks to years of tabletop world-building) and that makes it hard for me to follow the various story lines of most popular comics.

Click to expand...

• The most important character in the DC Universe isn't Batman or Superman - it's The Flash

The Flash made his debut in January 1940, the third of DC’s most-recognizable characters to be created in the Golden Age of comics, coming after Batman but just before Green Lantern. He was also an entirely different character than the one you might know from the current main “Flash” comic being published by DC, on the CW TV series, or the upcoming movie set to star Ezra Miller. Those are all about another Flash — Barry Allen. We’ll get to him in a moment.

The first Flash, however, was a guy named Jay Garrick.

Worldwide ComicsAn early issue of Flash Comics.





While his origin was different and his costume goofier than his more recognizable successor, the important part is pretty much the same: He’s a superhero who runs really fast. You don’t really have to read his stories unless you’re a die-hard Flash fan and a completist — most Golden Age comics aren’t all that great — but there are two things that are important about him. The first is a fun bit of trivia — he becomes a part of the first superhero team ever, the Justice Society of America. The second, however, is much more interesting.

The first reboot in comics
In 1956, DC Comics did something crazy: They introduced an entirely new Flash in their variety book “Showcase,” issue #4. Created by writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome with legendary artist Carmine Infantino, this new Flash was Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained his powers after getting doused by chemicals that were struck by lightning. This is where the Flash most people are familiar with began, iconic red suit and all.

DC Comics





No one had ever done this before — it was, essentially, the first real reboot in superhero comics. The Flash’s success was a key part of reviving the then floundering superhero genre, which had been under attack following the publication of Fredric Wertham’s anticomic-book manifesto “The Seduction of the Innocent.” Thanks to The Flash, superheroes began to come back in a big way — and the birth of Barry Allen effectively marked the start of the Silver Age of comics.

Make sense? Good. Here’s where things get crazy.

Flash meets Flash
When Barry Allen took over as the Flash, he was originally intended to replace Jay Garrick entirely. After his first appearance in “Showcase” was deemed a success and he was placed in his own book, “The Flash,” the new series picked up where the Jay Garrick-starring “Flash Comics” left off — with issue #105.

Funny story, though — Jay Garrick wasn’t entirely wiped from existence. Instead, he was a comic book character that Barry Allen read, a character that Allen would name himself after.

And then they meet.

In the seminal story “The Flash of Two Worlds” by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, Barry Allen, as The Flash, is demonstrating his powers at a community event when he does something he’s never done before. He vibrates straight out of our universe and into another, Earth-2, where his comic-book hero, Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, is real (along with the Golden Age versions of all of DC's characters). That story, which took place in “Flash” #123, marked the birth of the DC multiverse, and — to use an old comics cliché — nothing would ever be the same again.

DC Entertainment



The sci-fi plot device of parallel universes would become one of the most well-worn tropes in superhero comics, and it got its start with The Flash. “The Flash of Two Worlds” established Earth-2 as the world where all of DC's Golden Age characters resided, and started a trend where DC creators would introduce new parallel Earths to tell stories that deviated greatly from everything that came before — and some of those stories were weird.


Eventually, it would all get out of hand, with far too many universes in DC for its fans to keep track of and very little consistency regarding its characters’ backstories. To resolve this, DC would bring the multiverse to an end in 1985’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. “Crisis” was a watershed moment in comics history, collapsing all of DC’s multiple universes into one greatest-hits filled version of their entire publishing history. It’s even used as a measuring stick for DC chronology — pre and post “Crisis” became descriptors for discussing DC history.

What does this have to do with The Flash? Everything. Barry Allen plays a crucial role in “Crisis,” one that leads to his heroic death at the beginning of the miniseries’ final act. It’s a bit of a poetic, if not tragic, end for the character: The hero whose origin marked the start of the Silver Age would die at its end.

In doing so, Allen and his story would solidify the one thing that most differentiates DC from its chief competitor, Marvel.

It’s all about legacy
During the first few years of Barry Allen’s tenure as The Flash, DC introduced a teenaged sidekick for the Scarlet Speedster: Wally West, AKA Kid Flash. At the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” West would take on the mantle of his former mentor and become the Flash of the Modern Age of Comics in DC’s post "Crisis" universe.

DC Entertainment





Once again, The Flash was ground zero for another comic book first: The sidekick who inherited the mantle of his mentor. The graduation of Wally West was a huge comics landmark, the canonization of what’s still perceived as a cornerstone of the DC Universe: legacy. Its heroes are ideas, larger than life and bigger than any one person. They’re all symbols proudly carried by multiple people across generations — and sometimes all at once. Families form around them, bearing Superman’s shield or Batman’s signature Bat symbol like coats of arms, noble banners in a mythic tapestry going back more than 75 years.

This sort of noble heroism that inspires followers and family is something that’s a huge part of these characters’ DNA, but it struggles to make it to the big screen. The superhero movie zeitgeist on the whole — and the DC movie esthetic in particular — favors a certain hard-edged grimness at odds with all that. The utter bigness and limitless fun inherent to most of DC’s pantheon of heroes has yet to be faithfully portrayed on film, and it’s a shame.
​

​

Jane_the_Bane said:

In terms of powerful villains, few can match Thanos the Mad Titan, whose only weakness resides within his own ego.

Click to expand...

Jane_the_Bane said:

Thanos is not driven by a desire for conquest or domination, at least not for their own sake. He's completely enamoured with a cosmic principle, whose personification (an inert statue in the storyline I read) often does not amount to anything more than a figment of his own obsessed imagination.

Click to expand...

Rhamiel said:

lol sorry, geek rant over

Click to expand...

Jane_the_Bane said:

I've read "Our Gods wear Spandex", but it was sort of a disappointing read, given the strong premise. The second half of the book fizzles out with superficial (and often quite inaccurate) plot synopses for major characters. To call Batman a "Golem-like figure" is a real stretch, IMO.

Click to expand...

Gxg (G²) said:

Click to expand...

• Miles Morales to replace Peter Parker as first black Spider-Man in Marvel comics
  
• Miles Morales will be the Marvel Universe's main Spider-Man this fall
  
• Marvel Makes Miles Morales Their Primary Spider-Man ...
  
  
• Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man - Business Insider
  

Gxg (G²) said:

​

Click to expand...

• 
  
• Andrew Garfield says Spider-Man is Jewish, and a Christ

Gxg (G²) said:

• Andrew Garfield says Spider-Man is Jewish, and a Christ

Click to expand...

Jane_the_Bane said:

Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel specifically patterned Supes after Moses.
The issue came up again when the latest Superman film so heavy-handedly compared its titular hero to Jesus at several points: here's a good article on that.

Click to expand...

• Superman's Getting a Brand New Secret Identity

​

For over 70 years, Superman has hidden behind a single secret identity: Clark Kent. But now that the comics have re-exposed Clark Kent to the DC universe, the Man of Steel needs a new alter-ego. And so, for the first time in his history, Superman has a new secret persona.




Why Lois Lane Told The World That Clark Kent Is Superman
It’s long been unclear who is the worse reporter: Clark Kent, who lies to his readers daily by not…

Now that Superman (and Clark) are taking the heat for Lois’ story leaking his alter-ego, Kal-El has had to go into hiding and lay low. Fired from the Daily Planet when his co-workers discover they’d been in grave danger simply by being in Clark’s vicinity all the time, and facing persecution from the Government, Superman has vanished... and replaced himself with a mild-mannered trucker.

Yes, Clark Kent is now Archie Clayton! It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it? Although admittedly, the throwback to the idea that people simply don’t notice that Superman is Superman because Kal-El slouches is pretty good.

But if Clark Kent was only just revealed to the world as Superman, why does he—err, Archie, rather—feel the need for a new secret persona already? Well, it’s because Superman thinks that someone is out to get him:

Having your life systematically ripped apart bit by bit (and even depowered) is enough to drive someone to figure out why it’s all happening, and Superman has to go undercover to do so.

We’re guessing that Archie Clayton won’t stick around as much as Clark Kent has—because of course it won’t—but it’ll be interesting to see where Superman goes once this is all sorted. Even more secret identities? A world where everyone knows who Superman really is? We’ll have to wait and see.

.....
There is an arguable justification for a supposedly top investigative reporter like Lois Lane to decide to sit on such a big scoop. If you think of Superman as the equivalent of a CIA agent or undercover cop, and if you believe he’s consistently doing good—which is the whole point of the Superman character and how his actions are meant to be judged—then outing his real identity could endanger his family. Then again, if a top newspaper reporter is repeatedly lying to his readers with the glaring omission of mentioning that he’s Superman, the public should know.

The ethics of outing Superman’s secret identity can be debated. Hell, this would have been a great debate to see in the comics, the best journalism argument we’d have had in a Superman comic since 1987’s Adventures of Superman #428, in which Perry White anguishes and initially resists publishing a lie in the Daily Planet even when he knows it’ll save his kidnapped son (what a great issue; amazing I remember it all these years later).

For better or worse, though, today’s Superman comic isn’t about the Clark-Superman secret-identity journalism dilemma. It’s about an evil hacker called Hordr-Root who blackmails Superman with all this secret identity stuff.

2

This guy captures Superman and wants to siphon off his powers and use them for some sort of evil. If Superman refuses, he’ll deliver the ultimate spoiler and probably not precede it with any bold text. Yes, yes, true villainy.

Lois Lane witnesses this and decides, well, this is a reason to tell the world the truth. Can’t let Superman get used like this!

Superman, not surprisingly, is [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]ed. But, hey, it isn’t Lois Lane who decided that he should live a lie and try to be two public figures at once.

This is all... pretty weak. It’s too bad. Writer Gene Luen Yang and artists John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson and Scott Hanna are all good at what they do. Here, though, they’re trying to tell the most ridiculous of stories. At least it is part of a tradition of terrible handlings of the Superman-Clark revelation. You have the noxious bit in the Superman II movie in which Superman kisses Lois Lane to make her forget, because she just can’t handle knowing the secret. You have the hilarity of the last time Lois found out in the comics, back in the 90s, when Clark revealed it well after they got engaged (she didn’t stay mad very long).
​

Masihi said:

With religion, i rather enjoyed reading Fawstin's "The infidel" and his recent 3rd issue of the Pigman. The Pigman is everyone's hero as he alone conquers evil jihadists. The comic portrays everyone's desire of a superhero in this religious scope. It also gives messages of hope for the American justice system by allowing a court decision to favor free speech, in the second part of this comic. Enjoy clips:
View media item 53369View media item 53370View media item 53371
ps. I think Miles Morales has a less than attractive countenance; ill be bypassing that series.

Click to expand...