This is us being silly.

Faith and the Fourth World

On the second read of Final Crisis #1, I was drawn to the above exchange. The casual reader sees this as the request of a dying man. Knowing that it is a god which fell changes the scene's meaning. These words are no longer a request, this is a commandment. This is the sole commandment of Orion, War God of New Genesis. Fight.

This line of thinking progressed. Considering Kirby's New Gods in religious terms leads to interesting places.

Darkseid rules Apokolips by fear. He is absolute authority with totalitarian ambitions. In Morrison's JLA: Rock of Ages, he transforms Earth into dystopia similar to Orwell's 1984. One word stands out on all signs, posters, and banners: obey.
This is the image often associated with the God of the old testament. Ecclesiastes 12:13 states, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."



Mr. Miracle, whom I love, also resonates with biblical themes.




Aside from the obvious similarity of a son being given to the enemy for the sake of peace, Scott Free features other Christ-like attributes. Being sent to the armaghetto only to eventually escape with Barda compares to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, in which Christ goes to Hell to free the righteous. Freedom, of which Mr. Miracle is living embodiment, is often viewed as the focal point of Christ's message. The word free, or variations there of, appears 68 times in the new testament.

I don't mean to keep posting about church and comics, I'll change subjects soon.

The Gospel According to Stan the Man

The current Wolverine storyline sets out to explain what happens each time when Logan is seemingly killed and then returns to life. It all starts on the war ravished fields of France in the second decade of the twentieth century. On second thought, there's too much backstory here. Wolverine beat the angel of death and now gets a second chance at life every time he dies, so long as he can beat him again.
I was explaining this to a church discussion group when some cynicism presented itself.

V: He killed the angel of death?
D: Not really killed, just defeated in battle.
V: Still, how can he beat the angel of death?
D: Well Jacob wrestled an angel to a standstill.
G: And Wolverine could totally kick Jacob's ass.

It was at this point when I realized something about myself. Each week that I've met with my church discussion group I've questioned the nature of God, religion, the church, faith, truth, etc. I never question the Marvel Bullpen. Some could argue that I don't question comics because I regard them as fiction, but the point remains. In all outer appearances I seem to have more faith in Marvel Comics than I do in my own religion.

A thought on supervillainy

Supervillains bother me. Not in the same way they bother someone like Daredevil mind you. The idea behind supervillains bothers me. Why would someone create a new identity in order to commit crimes?
If a person wants to remain anonymous, they hide their face. This is the basic concept behind the costumed persona. True, some people wear a mask to adopt a better identity (e.g. Bruce Wayne is a man, but Batman is something more), but most characters are disguising themselves. Following this train of thought one would assume that the supervillain wears a disguise to keep themselves out of jail. If this were the case then they would wear traditional ski masks or ladies' stockings. Supervillains choose to wear disguises that are distinct and recognizable. Why? Because they want to get credit for what they've done but not get caught. They could easily rob banks without using insignias or gimmicks, but they want to be noticed.
I know that not all supervillains fit this mold. Eric Lensherr isn't dressing up and calling himself Magneto in order to avoid getting into trouble. He does this in order to separate himself from the likes of us humans. Nor does this apply to Killer Croc, who actually sees himself as a crocodile. The prior statement refers to the those such as The Wrecker, Captain Cold, Bullseye, and KGBeast.
The original Red Hood had the right idea. A criminal organization would pick a guy at random to put on this suit and lead the gang for one job. This protected the identities of those involved as well as help maintain the belief that there's one guy running the show.